DA’s office will move forward with prosecuting cases

Published 2:27 pm Tuesday, April 24, 2018

THOMASVILLE, Ga. — The Southern Judicial Circuit district attorney said his office will continue to prosecute Thomas County cases and serve the public.

Thomas County assistant district attorneys released a letter Monday that expressed concerns about the office’s relationship with Thomasville Police Department, citing an erosion of trust.

Because of a responsibility to serve residents, the district attorney’s office tries to work with local law enforcement agencies, Shealey said Tuesday.

“This is not unusual, no, but it occurs on occasion,” Shealy said.

It is important for district attorneys’ offices to have good relationships with local law enforcement agencies, the district attorney said, adding that the relationships are essential to serving citizens.

The local office will continue to work with TPD. The disagreement does not set aside service to residents, Shealy said.

Thomasville officials said an assessment of internal policies and practices will begin immediately.

Communications between the local district attorney’s office and TPD need strengthening, Shealy said.

“It dropped down to where these are the issues,” he added. “We will continue to move forward to present cases as we always have.”

Shealy has discussed the situation with Kha McDonald, interim city manager, and was assured TPD will work with assistant district attorneys.

The letter was penned by assistant district attorneys — Ray Auman, Jim Prine and Catherine Smith — in response to a letter to the office from Capt. Maurice Holmes, TPD Criminal Investigations Division (CID) commander, that said CID has recently seen an increase in case file requests from the local district attorney’s office.

The cases and the case files are being submitted as quickly as possible, Holmes wrote. The situation did not seem to be an issue until recently, the commander’s letter said.

Through an evaluation, city officials hope to identify opportunities to improve public safety management policies, procedures, practices and activities that ultimately impact the level of service, said McDonald.

“The City of Thomasville takes the matters contained in this letter very seriously,” McDonald said. “We hold the office of our local district attorneys and staff members in high regard.”

McDonald said that as an organization, the City of Thomasville — including Thomasville Police Department — is diligently committed to establishing and maintaining positive working relationships with the district attorney’s office and all other law enforcement agencies and community partners.

“The goal of the City of Thomasville and the Thomasville Police Department is to work to re-establish and strengthen communication and the delivery of service,” McDonald said. “The relationship between TPD and the district attorney’s office requires mutual trust and dependence on one another to provide optimum service to the community we all serve.”

The district attorney said he wants the TPD to be “more inclusive” about getting case reports done in a timely manner.

Shealy said district attorney’s offices have experienced problems with local law enforcement in “varying degrees.”

“We’ve had issues before, but we’ve never had it where it reached the newspaper,” he said.

Senior reporter Patti Dozier can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 1820