An angry Sheriff Joe Arpaio is defending a Georgia police chief who was suspended for simply making a cross country trip – on his own vacation – to visit the Arizona sheriff.
As we reported, Grantville, Georgia police chief Doug Jordan met with Sheriff Arpaio on August 23 and expressed his hopes to establish an anti-drug team in his own town.
Sheriff Joe says Jordan and his wife were in Arizona to celebrate their 31st wedding anniversary and paid their own way.
Chief Doug Jordan decided to stop in and see the Sheriff in his office to talk about his operations.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio was pretty upset about the one-week suspension of Chief Jordan, and says ”politics” were involved in the chief’s suspension.
When two members of the city council found out about the meeting, they voted to suspend the chief without pay for one week for violating policy of not notifying the city manager in advance.
That caused an uproar. And support flowed in from across the country. A staggering 15,000+ people clicked on Stand With Arizona’s email link to send Chief Jordan a message of support since our report just a few days ago.
Chief Jordan was thrilled with the support, and was stunned by the suspension.
“I was very shocked. Who in the world would want to punish law enforcement for doing their job? Wanting to better the community?” said Chief Jordan. “Sheriff Joe is of course known as the toughest sheriff in the country, he’s all about law enforcement. He’s a legend.”
The mayor of Grantville, who was out of town at the time of the vote, was not pleased by the suspension.
Neither was Sheriff Joe.
“They’re going after a law enforcement guy because all he’s trying to do is enforce the drug laws the best he can with a small staff? What’s wrong with that?” said Sheriff Joe.
He says he and the chief talked about drug task force operations and ways to make the town of Grantville safer.
Sheriff Joe is possibly the most experienced law enforcement officer in the nation when it comes to fighting drugs – having spent 25 years in the DEA, including heading bureaus in Turkey and Mexico, before his election as sheriff.
Arpaio is standing behind the chief and even offered to go to Grantville himself, if needed. He also says he believes the two council members who voted to suspend the chief were making a political statement.
“But you don’t take it out on a police chief. If you have any guts call me about it, but don’t go around suspending the police chief, because he’s on his own time. I presume if he went to Disneyland, he’d have to go say I’m going to Disneyland? What kind of operation are they running down there?” said Arpaio.
Chief Jordan released a statement saying: “I am humbled. I cannot get over the response from all over the country and the city. I feel more dedicated with this show of support than ever before to make Grantville a safe place and crime-free.”
Grantville – oddly enough the real-life location for the hit AMC series “The Walking Dead” – has been hammered by Mexican cartel drug crime in recent years.
Yet one of the 2 zombie councilmen who voted to suspend Jordan, Johnny Cooks (EMAIL link) – who has a history of race-baiting and opposition to police operations in his areas – totally denies any such problem exists. Said Cooks, bizarrely: “Those kinds of problems do not exist here…The city does not have that type of crime. The biggest crime we have in Grantville my dog sitting in the front yard without a leash.”
Above: Grantville Councilman Johnny Cooks
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The mayor of Grantville wants the two council members to resign, and reinstate Chief Jordan’s pay.
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