Glynn Policing Power Struggle?

Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024

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Good morning. Our weekly public safety newsletter is back after a restful holiday, and we’re covering how the Savannah Police Department its expanding surveillance in the city, the continuing tug-of-war for funding and personnel between Glynn County law enforcement, and Coastal Georgia court cases we’re watching.

Questions, comments or story ideas? New Year’s resolutions? You can reach me at jake.shore@thecurrentga.org.

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Cameras in Savannah’s public housing

The Savannah Police Department is expanding its network of surveillance cameras into public housing complexes, according to previously unreported documents.

The June 2023 grant from the state, utilizing federal Covid-19 response funds, awarded nearly $450,000 to the Savannah Police Department to install 15 cameras across Frazier Homes, Kayton Homes, Yamacraw Village and River Pointe as well as 38 cameras in other parts of the city.

Spokespeople for SPD and the city did not respond to questions sent by The Current on Wednesday about when the cameras are going up (or if they already have), whether they will be interior or exterior, and how they will integrate with existing police surveillance technology.

A mother of a 15-year-old shooting victim in Yamacraw Village sued Savannah public housing officials last year over failing to have working security cameras and security guards, which she said might have prevented her daughter’s murder — which remains unsolved.

The Washington Post reported in May 2023 how increased video surveillance in public housing has led to more punishments and evictions for the nation’s poorest tenants, sometimes for breaking minor rules, with little evidence of the cameras helping in public safety.

SPD says the cameras are about protecting residents: “The funding will ensure the SPD has the necessary equipment, tools, and resources needed to complete its mission — assisting in reduction of violent crime,” the agency wrote in its request.

The grant also adds 38 cameras across five neighborhoods (Savannah Gardens, Live Oak, Cuyler Brownsville, Gordonston/Avondale and Wilshire/Oakdale), Baker Street Park in West Savannah, and along the Truman walking trail, according to the documents.

The cameras are the latest push by Savannah Police to increase surveillance across the city and eventually create a real time crime center to monitor alleged crimes live.

Since 2022, city officials have approved budget requests by the agency to expand its controversial gunshot-detection system, ShotSpotter, purchase an AI-powered program to sift through surveillance footage called BriefCam, and approve a contract with the company Fusus to allow police to view opted-in business and city cameras in real time.

You can read the grant documents here.

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Pay issue highlights Glynn policing divide

The ongoing power struggle over who controls law enforcement in Glynn County was on full display at a public meeting in late December during a discussion over officer pay.

Glynn County Sheriff Neal Jump proposed pay increases for deputies working in the jail and courthouse officers, citing 24 vacancies at the detention center. The proposal came nearly two months after Glynn County Police Chief Scott Ebner’s dire plea to commissioners to improve pay for his officers, which he said he lost 41 of to attrition between June 2022 and November 2023.

At the Dec. 21 meeting, Commissioner Cap Fendig pointed out that Jump benefited from the issues at the county police force.

“Historically — and this is my third term — because of the disparity in pay, a lot of people have left Glynn County Police Department and come over to work with you,” Fendig said, “I don’t see a lot of them leaving you and then coming back over to Glynn County.”

Jump defended himself, claiming he was not exploiting the officer shortage at the department but instead is trying to stop it.

“I’ve got 25 applications right now sitting on my desk from the county PD that I will not touch because I know they need the manpower,” Jump said. “But when they go to Kingsland or other agencies, that’s not my fault.”

Fendig made a motion to pause the sheriff’s request until they could create a proposal with pay parity between the two agencies. Fendig’s motion was outvoted, however, and Jump’s original request was approved.

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Eyes on the courts

Here are some updates from court and public safety cases across the coast:

Chatham: In an interview with The Current last month, Chatham County District Attorney Shalena Cook Jones said the case of Ernest Ferguson, a now-fired Savannah Police Department who fatally shot a man in Carver Village in June 2022, was still under investigation by her office. Cook Jones said she wants to get to that case, which riled members of the community and placed scrutiny on the police department’s hiring practices, but she said her main focus is prosecuting the office’s current slate of violent crimes:

“Under the ideal circumstances, we want to get to those cases as soon as possible because we know they’re public integrity cases, and we know that they’re important to the public. However, our first obligation is to handle those cases that are backlogged with defendants who are in jail on serious, major violent felonies and to handle the business of this office,” she said.

Glynn: Brunswick Judicial Circuit Superior Court Judge Roger Lane jailed an Atlanta-area attorney, Victor Ogbuehi, after finding him in contempt of court on Dec. 21, according to a court order. Ogbuehi was late to the trial of his client, Vivian Smith, who faces charges of aggravated assault and stalking in Glynn County. The client was also not present at the trial, and the seated jury had to be dismissed as a result. Lane jailed the lawyer until Christmas Eve at 5 p.m., the order stated.

Glynn: The Fulton County racketeering case against Jeffery Williams, the rapper known as “Young Thug,” has resumed this week after a delay due to a co-defendant’s stabbing. The trial continuing has importance for Glynn County, where Williams’ lawyer Brian Steel also represents indicted former district attorney, Jackie Johnson, accused of interfering in Ahmaud Arbery investigation in 2020. The Johnson case has severely stagnated in the past two years due to her lawyer’s work representing Williams.

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