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FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS Sunday, March 28,1099
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Photo/Cdby Jones
Special Response Team members undergo search and hostage simulations last year in Toccoa.
Response team trained for crises
By Colby Jones
Staff Writer
The Sheriff’s Office Special Response Team offi
cially went into action last year.
The elite squad completed extensive training in
Toccoa in October of 1998 that included rappelling,
night operations, stair work, subgun practice and
entry simulations.
Sheriff Denny Hendrix said the team’s 15 mem
bers represent the best the Sheriff’s Office has to
offer: “You can run faster, shoot better and think
quicker than the average trooper on the street.”
Led by Capt. Mark Hoffman, the team responds
to hostage and victim rescue situations, kidnappings
and high risk warrants. Most team members have
served on SWAT teams in other law enforcement
agendies or the military.
The entire team is certified at SWAT level two.
Hendrix said members assume the serious respon
sibility of making split second decisions whether or
not to'use deadly force.
“You are authorized by law to take a human life
without judicial process,” he said. “Personally, I
would not want that responsibility ... It takes a spe
cial breed.”
The team received its first real test three months
ago when an armed man, who had shot at his father
earlier in the day, held officers at bay outside his
Burnt Bridge Road trailer for two hours.
The team set up a perimeter around the trailer and
several snipers hid in tall grass near the man, waiting
for him to put down an Uzi machine gun. Although
no one else was on the property at the time, he
reportedly threatened to kill civilians during talks
with a negotiator. He also walked in and out of the
SHERIFF'S
“We have increased the staff
and plan to put two more offi
cers in the domestic violence
unit,” Hendrix said. “No matter
what it takes, we are going to
get the job done there.”
Calls into the 911 center
leaped from 23,464 in 1997 to
71,404 in 1998, a 300 percent
increase.
Hendrix intends to bolster
the 911 center by purchasing
another console and adding dis
patchers to the communications
division.
He also is pushing to
improve the overcrowded jail,
Saying he hopes commissioners
will proceed with plans to build
a new jail in the near future. The
current facility, which contains
140 beds, housed anywhere
from 110 to 162 inmates during
1998.
Other projects on tap for the
upcoming year include a work
detail for inmates to pick up lit
ter on county roads, the addition
of a third precinct in Sharon
Springs Park and creation of a
Sheriff’s Office website.
The department has grown
tremendously in the past two
years with the addition of 101
employees.
In addition to the grant
money the department received
from state and federal sources,
the Sheriff’s Office returned
$896,828 in cash and real prop
erty to the county during 1998.
”1 try to run it like a business
because it is big business,”
Hendrix said, noting he only ran
.1 percent over budget last year,
which does not take into account
money the department returned
to the county through ticketing,
fingerprinting and housing state
inmates.
“Crime overall is down and
I’m real happy with the state of
the Sheriff’s Office this year,"
Hendrix said, adding he intends
to document every penny that
flows through the department in
(999: “We do a lot of borrowing
from Peter to pay Paul, but we
A get the job doge.”'
trailer, where investigators believed he had stockpiled
more weapons, during the standoff.
“When this man told us the president told him not
to surrender his weapons or property, I knew it was
serious,” Hendrix said. “I was sick to death some
body was going to die.”
Dressed in camouflage pants, the man talked to
officers about being the highest ranking liberation
member in the state of Georgia and expressed con
cern he was being watched by satellites.
Team members eventually stunned him with a
“flash bang” device, which looks similar to a hand
grenade and sounds like a large firecracker. They
took him into custody without firing a shot.
One SRT team member commented the depart
ment was not outmanned but possibly outgunned by
the man. Deputies recovered an Uzi submachine gun
fitted with a silencer; Smith and Wesson .357
Magnum revolver and three pistols —a .380-caliber,
Derringer and 9 mm from his body. He also was car
rying several fully loaded clips and three knives.
Team member Elliot Cutler presented Hendrix
with a plaque last October and thanked him for start
ing the program.
“Sheriff Hendrix quickly realized he had to send
his deputies out on calls where we were seriously out
armed,” he said. “And these type incidents are on the
rise.
Hendrix alluded to the Wachovia bank robbery,
during which a deputy was shot, and two other armed
robberies last year as evidence the team is needed.
And each member joined the team for some rea
son other than a bonus.
“They’re all volunteers and are not getting paid
any more money for being on the team,” Hoffman
said.
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HEALTH & SAFETY
Courthouse security remains a v
concern of law enforcement, court
By Colby Jones
Staff Writer
Sheriff Denny Hendrix said one of his chief aims
this year will be to increase courthouse security.
Judges concerned about inadequate security have
pressed Hendrix and county officials to put into
place cameras and x-ray machines originally
planned for installation two years ago.
“In almost all contested litigation matters, the lit
igants are very emotional and they are usually expe
riencing some crisis in their lives that has resulted in
court action,” State Court Judge Jeff Bagley wrote to
commissioners last year, adding messy divorces,
child abuse cases and property disputes create espe
cially hostile situations.
“At the present time, anyone can walk into the
courthouse carrying any type of weapon that can be
concealed under clothing or in a briefcase or bag,”
Bagley stated.
While only court employees can the enter the
building from Castleberry Road, Superior Court
Judge Stan Gault said restricting access at the back
door does little when anyone can pass unchecked
through the front door. Security equipment could
Photo/Tom Brooks
Sheriff Denny Hendrix opened Precinct 2 in the north end of the county in September of 1998. ,
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prevent tragedies that have occurred at other court
houses around the country, he said. v u. .•
Although the county does own a free-standing
metal detector, the rest of the equipment was never
purchased because courthouse renovation costs ran
over budget.
“We hope we can redeploy personnel to increase
court security,” Hendrix said. He began the process
by bringing on board Capt. Bill Craig, a 28-year
veteran of the Atlanta and Fulton County police
departments, and placing him in charge of court
services. If the department is approved for a federal
block grant, walk-through metal detectors finally
could be installed at the building’s entrance. The
department currently uses hand-held metal detec
tors during high-profile cases. Hendrix said the
grant money also could be used to install video sur
veillance and panic buttons behind the judges’
benches.
Until the equipment arrives, deputies will have
to keep the building secure by maintaining a high
visibility and keeping a watchful eye.
The department recently placed signs in the
entrance advising people they were subject to being -
searched while inside the building.