Three weeks after Milledgeville Police Chief Dray Swicord was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in neighboring Wilkinson County, he remains on administrative leave with pay.

While an internal investigation is underway by city attorney Jimmy Jordan into the case at the request of City Manager Barry Jarrett, Swicord continues awaiting his fate from both a job and court standpoint.

He and his attorney, Carl Cansino, of Milledgeville, have declined comment about the incident.

Meanwhile, Swicord is also under investigation by the Georgia Peace Officers Standards Training Council (P.O.S.T.), the agency that regulates the certification of all law enforcement officers across the state. 

The internal probe underway by the city attorney is expected to be addressed again with city elected officials early next week, the newspaper learned Thursday. 

Swicord’s arraignment as to the charge of DUI is set for Nov. 8, in Wilkinson County Probate Court. During such a hearing, the person accused of a traffic offense has to inform a judge whether he is pleading innocent to the charge or charges or guilty to one or more traffic offenses. The procedures are identical to the ones followed by a person accused of crimes in superior court.

Ken Vance, executive director of P.O.S.T., talked with the newspaper Thursday afternoon about the Swicord case.

“He (Swicord or any other law enforcement officer accused of such an offense) is required to report that to P.O.S.T. within 15 days,” Vance said. “[Swicord] reported it in less than 24 hours.”

Swicord also immediately reported the incident to City Manager Jarrett, who issued a press release the next day concerning the police chief’s arrest, announcing that Swicord had been placed on administrative leave with pay until further notice.

After Swicord informed the state agency of his arrest, Vance said P.O.S.T. opened an investigation.

“We’ll look into things just like everybody else has looked into things,” Vance said. “In cases like this, P.O.S.T. has a long history of treating these cases very, very similarly. When it’s just a DUI, it’s nothing else; it’s not an accident and it’s not this or that, it’s just a plain old DUI, P.O.S.T. has a history of treating all of these cases the same way as far as an officer’s certification is concerned.”

Vance said the officer’s certification is placed on 24-month probation.

The officer also is required to attend the Georgia Department of Driver Services Alcohol Class at his own expense, Vance pointed out.

The investigation by P.O.S.T. into the case is no different from what the state agency does in any situation where a certified law enforcement officer is arrested for DUI, Vance said.

“We treat every one of these type cases the same way,” Vance said. “P.O.S.T. looks at the actions that got you (a certified law enforcement officer) into the courthouse.”

Vance explained that P.O.S.T. is not interested in innocence or guilt.

“That’s a court matter,” Vance said. “P.O.S.T. looks at the actions that got you in the courthouse to start with.”

Vance said he had seen cases where an officer was found innocent in court, but the officer was still treated by P.O.S.T. as if he had been found guilty.

“Ours (investigation) has to do with the officer’s certification — not their guilt or innocence,” Vance said. “In cases of DUI, we are very, very consistent.”

Under P.O.S.T. basic certification, law enforcement officers in Georgia are required to attend basic mandate school, which consists of approximately 11 weeks, 400-plus hours, and at least 20 hours of specialized training a year.

Swicord submitted to blood being drawn after he was taken to the county jail after his arrest. The blood sample was later sent to a Georgia Bureau of Investigation Crime Laboratory to test the amount of alcohol in it.

Under the Georgia Open Records Act, The Union-Recorder filed a request with the Georgia State Patrol to obtain the results of the BAC, but the newspaper was informed that officials could not release such information. 

“The blood alcohol test is not releasable at this time, because the case is still pending,” according to a spokeswoman with the GSP Open Records Department.

Vance said he did not know what Swicord’s BAC registered.

Asked if that would have any bearing as far as P.O.S.T. was concerned, Vance said, “If it was way, way, way out of whack, possibly.”

The 52-year-old Swicord, who has been employed with the Milledgeville Police Department for the past 33 years, was charged Aug. 18, with driving under the influence by Trooper First Class Tyler G. Gay, who is assigned to the GSP post in Dublin.

The state trooper said in an incident report that he stopped the driver of a 2007 Chevrolet Silverado C1500 pickup truck while patrolling north on Ga. Route 243 near mile marker nine in Wilkinson County because the driver failed to dim his headlights when he passed his patrol car.

The driver of the truck was Swicord. 

There was no mention in the report whether Gay knew that Swicord was the police chief or whether or not Swicord identified himself as the police chief when the trooper asked to see his driver’s license.

Gay said in the report that he immediately detected the odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from inside the truck. The trooper said he also observed Swicord’s speech was slurred and his eyes bloodshot and watery. 

A preliminary breath test, often referred to as PBT by law enforcement officers, was administered to Swicord. The PBT revealed a positive reading of .131, according to the trooper’s report.

When asked how long it had been since he had consumed an alcoholic beverage, Swicord reportedly said, “approximately two hours ago.”

Gay said in his report that he asked Swicord to step out of his truck in order to perform field sobriety evaluations to determine whether he was safe to operate a motor vehicle.

Before the tests were conducted, the trooper asked Swicord how many beverages had he consumed and what type of beverages they were.

Swicord, reportedly replied, “just a couple, brother” and said that he had been drinking liquor.

Gay said in his report that he explained each of the field sobriety evaluations and that Swicord told him he understood each one before the evaluations began.

The trooper said the first evaluation that he administered to Swicord was the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus evaluation.

“I confirmed that Mr. Swicord’s pupils were of equal size and were tracking equally,” Gay said. “I observed no resting nystagmus. While having him follow the stimulus, I observed a total of six clues. I observed lack of smooth pursuit in both eyes, distinct and sustained nystagmus at maximum deviation in both eyes, and onset of nystagmus prior to 45 degrees in both eyes.”

Gay said he was unable to administer the walk and turn or the one leg stance evaluations.

Swicord was then asked if he would consent to a preliminary breath test.

“Mr. Swicord agreed and stated that he had just taken a swallow of an alcoholic beverage,” Gay said in his report.

Swicord said it had been approximately 15 minutes since he had taken his last swallow of an alcoholic beverage.

“Mr. Swicord submitted to the test, which resulted in a positive reading,” Gay said.

The trooper said he placed Swicord under arrest after the PBT revealed a positive reading. The police chief was taken to the Wilkinson County Law Enforcement Center where he was later booked on a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol/less safe, and processed by jail staff.

Swicord later sought a retake of the PBT, once before he left the scene of the traffic stop and again at the county jail.

On both occasions, Gay allowed Swicord to retake the PBT. In both of those instances, the PBTs came back with positive readings, according to Gay.

Before Swicord left the scene of the traffic stop in the back seat of a patrol car, he asked to speak to Sgt. First Class McCabe Bloodworth, the post commander in Dublin. Gay allowed him to call and talk with him, but the nature of that conversation was not mentioned in the trooper’s traffic stop report.

Attempts by the newspaper to follow up with questions to Bloodworth concerning his conversation with Swicord at the time, along with several other questions have been unsuccessful. A spokeswoman at the GSP post in Dublin said Bloodworth had been told by GSP Capt. Billy Hitchens not to speak to the newspaper.