A Georgia Sheriff joined the board

Welcome. Thanks for searching us out and joining, I'm sure your membership here will help us all.

 

I second pro2am's sentiment. Sheriff Berry! If you find the information on this site most acceptable, is it possible you could recommend GFL applicants in your county to visit this site?

Please feel free to post any information you feel is relevant to the GFL. We could most definately use any information and/or suggestions from the LE community.

 

A warm welcome to MY local sheriff!

 

Welcome aboard Sheriff!

 

Thank you Sherriff, we do too!

Thanks for clarifying the Oconee Co. process for us, we're glad to have you.

 

Awesome! You're the best!

If you get a minute, besure to check out Georgia's newest grass-roots pro carry organization. Georgia Carry dot ORG

We have already have a few issues that we have been successful in addressing.

 

Greetings, greetings. Glad you're here. Thank you for your public service.

 

Sheriff Berry, welcome.

The issues you address in your post are not the problems we are having State-wide and I realize that you can only speak to Oconee County (and I am in Cobb). The problems are with the Probate Judges who routinely miss-read or ignore State law.

First, is there a legal requirement to process a background check on teachers within a time limit? There is one, by law, to issue or deny a GFL (60 days). Some Probate Judges are taking over twice as long as the law requires to issue.
A three minuet NCIS check provides all the information to issue without having to bother you or other Sheriff’s since it can be done in the Court office. One Judge is claiming that she has to wait until she gets an OK back from the GBI, which is not supported in the Law.

If Judge Anglin is taking longer than 60 days to issue a GFL, he is not complying with Georgia law. If he refuses to issue temporary licenses he is not complying with Georgia law. Read Georgia Code 16-11-129 to see if Judge Anglin is complying with the Law.

Secondly, the Department of Public Safety application forms and Probate Courts have required that the applicant provide SSN’s. It took a court case to begin to bring the DPS and Probate Courts into compliance with Federal and State law. Additionally, certain Courts have required submission of employment information, extraneous information which is specifically prohibited by State law.

The problems are not the administrative paper shuffling of which you speak, it is the active obstruction by a majority of Probate Judges in the State of Georgia and the Department of Public Safety to delay or deny the issuance of licenses to legally qualified applicants.

Third, this does irritate me: “We do fingerprints (electronically) on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10-2... Printing in the jail will be done as soon as practical, since the booking and processing of inmates can not be done with a citizen in the same room. ... When the new jail opens the firearms and other "volunteer" type printing will take place in the new hearing room, the days and hours not yet set.†It irritates me in that I, as a law abiding Citizen, in the process of complying with the Law, have to arrange my schedule around the processing of prisoners. Chain ‘em to a wall, put me at the head of the line. The five minuets delay it takes to zap my fingers won’t deny them justice. And how about ‘during normal business hours, Monday through Friday, 8:30AM to 5:00PM’ for the new hearing room?

Finally, at least one County is issuing renewal licenses the same day. What are they doing that the other counties are not?

Again, Welcome.

 

Wiley,

At the risk of your taking down your auto-signature (thank, you by the way, for your repeated thanks), let me comment on this:

Keep in mind that people who are being booked into the good sheriff's jail are innocent (not having been convicted of a crime -- at least not the one for which they are being booked). Some have families to support and jobs to go to, as soon as they get booked and make bond.

Please don't take this statement as my being an apologist for criminals. I just believe we should pay more than lip service to the notion that people are innocent until proven guilty -- and that they should be treated accordingly.

 

I fully agree and said the same to myself as I was writing it. I'm just not sharp enough to get the phrasing correct. I hope the sense of what I wrote got through.

Re: my sig line: Its kind of like a Tibetian prayer wheel. As long as it keeps spinning the prayers go out.