About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (July 2, 2020)
Stonewall Jackson statue pulled from famous Monument Avenue in Richmond. INSIDE, 3A Honestly Local What local law enforcement have and how they use them BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com After national controversies in cities such as Baltimore and Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, Gainesville Police started equip ping officers with body cameras. In April of this year, the department has upgraded to a new system matching the Hall County Sheriff’s Office. Gaines ville Police Chief Jay Parrish said he believes the new cam eras perform better than the older models they had. “The older that technology got, the less it worked. How many people keep a cellphone for five years? You’re looking at similar technology,” he said, as the department will have close to 100 cameras for all officers doing uniformed police work. Body cameras have become a national talking point in the recent spotlight on police reform. The Newtown Florist Club, Gainesville’s civil rights group, has pushed for all law enforcement officers to wear body cameras and to “estab lish discipline” for officers who make arrests without turning on their cameras. Parrish said he feels the body cameras keep the officer as accountable as the citizen, lead ing to a cutback on complaints. It is easier for the chief and his staff to get to the bottom of the investigation with the camera rolling. Parrish said officers are to turn on the cameras whenever possible before they have an interaction with a member of the public and keep it on until the end of that incident. Accord ing to the Axon website, the cam eras have a battery life of longer than 12 hours, though the chief said it drains the most battery while recording. “We understand that there could be these emergent times when that’s not possible, if you’re having to jump out to help protect life or property, but those should be the exception, never the rule,” Parrish said. “If you get dispatched to a call, you know to go ahead and turn your body cam on and then you keep your recording all the way till you get disconnected.” ■ Please see CAMERA, 3A Reps urge action over water war bill BY MEGAN REED mreed@gainesvilletimes.com Area U.S. House leaders want answers on a contract for water storage in Lake Lanier that has been in negotiation for over a decade U.S. Rep. Doug Collins, R-Gainesville, joined U.S. Rep. Rob Woodall, a Republican represent ing parts of Forsyth and Gwin nett counties, in writing a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engi neers asking for the contract to be finalized. In 2011, the United States Court of Appeals for the Elev enth Circuit ruled that the Corps could allocate waters from Lake Lanier to Atlanta. “Despite this ruling and the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that demonstrated such a contract would not harm Florida, the contract with Georgia has yet to be finalized,” the letter reads. “As the days and months go on, Georgia counties planning their water usage are unable to follow through with their plans and, unfortunately, these counties will continue to reckon with their inability to plan and predict their water usage from Lake ■ Please see WATER, 3A Collins Police ramp up efforts ahead of holiday weekend BY NICK WATSON nwatson@gainesvilletimes.com Law enforcement agencies across the state are ramping up its efforts ahead of the Fourth of July holiday weekend. “With the holiday falling on the weekend this year, police officers, sheriff’s deputies and state troopers from Ringgold to St. Mary’s and everywhere in between will be working to save lives and prevent crashes by taking drunk and drugged drivers off the road,” according to a statement from the Governor’s Office of High way Safety. The Governor’s Office of Highway Safety said 193 people died nationwide in traffic crashes in 2018 in the 36-hour period before, during and after the holiday, with 40% of those deaths coming from wrecks with alcohol involved. “According to the Georgia State Patrol, 26 people were killed in traffic crashes state wide during last year’s 102-hour July 4 holiday period that began at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, July 3 and ended at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, July 7. Troopers made 422 DUI arrests and issued ■ Please see FOURTH, 3A 2 Hall women start law enforcement appreciation initiative BY KELSEY P0D0 kpodo@gainesvilletimes.com Lisa Taylor and Veron ica Bennett of Hall County believe most people need to feel appreciated sometimes — even cops. The two friends started an initiative called, #BagsForTh- eBlue, which aims to recog nize local law enforcement for their contributions to the community. On Tuesday, June 30, they dropped off 120 gift bags and hand sanitizer bottles to Gainesville Police Depart ment’s staff. Before that, on June 22, Taylor, Bennett and several of their children delivered 375 gift bags, 450 face masks and bottles of hand sanitizer to Hall County Sheriff’s Office, as well as a basket of goodies for administration. The two plan to also deliver a smaller batch of goodies to Georgia State Patrol troops and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. Taylor and Bennett said they were inspired to launch #BagsForTheBlue after hear ing about the negative treat ment of officers on a local and national level. “I know that they’re feeling so disheartened and defeated and ganged up on, and I don’t think it’s right,” Taylor said. “There are issues we need to work on as a country as far as police reform, but that doesn’t mean that everyone (every police officer) is bad.” Taylor said she originally wanted to deliver doughnuts to local law enforcement, but the act of kindness grew into something greater. Two weeks after posting a message on Facebook about #BagsForTheBlue, Bennett said around $3,000 was raised. The two women used the money to purchase food for gift bags to deliver to law enforcement in Hall County. Taylor said they asked offi cers about the sort of snacks they like to have on patrol and set off to Sam’s Club to fulfill their requests. After purchasing large quantities of beef jerky, gra nola bars, chewing gum and other snacks, Taylor and Ben nett said they had $750 left. They decided to contrib ute $400 of the amount to the Gainesville Police Explor ers program — which intro duces young adults to the law enforcement field — and $400 toward Hall County Sher iff’s Office’s holiday bicycle program. The other $50 went to Blue Line Bears, which is a nonprofit that helps the children of fallen law enforcement. ■ Please see BLUE, 3A KELSEY PODO I The Times Officer Kelly Olson carries a batch of goodies that were donated by community members to the Gainesville Police Department on June 30. This e-edition sponsored by:
