The name of the individual employed by the Sheriff’s Office, while public information, was left out of the article as the focus of the article is the issuing of an oath as a deputy to a person who is not a POST-certified peace officer by Sheriff Mike Kile and not the qualifications of the individual to whom the oath was issued.
Records show that a Screven County Sheriff’s Office employee who is not legally authorized to work as a deputy in the State of Georgia has been patrolling the schools in Screven County.
TheGeorgiaVirtue.com was recently contacted about a person wearing a deputy’s uniform and carrying a firearm at various schools in Screven County. The individual was identified as DMC, a relatively new hire as the individual recently assigned to work in Screven County Schools. As a result, a number of Open Records Requests were filed with the Screven County Sheriff’s Office, the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council (GA POST), and the Screven County School System.
Records from POST show that DMC applied with the Screven County Sheriff’s Office in July 2024.
POST Training Records
When TheGeorgiaVirtue.com contacted the Georgia Peace Officer Standards and Training Council to obtain a copy of DMC’s POST record, the document revealed that DMC is not certified to work as a deputy. The document, up to date as of September 12, 2024, shows a Corrections Officer certification, but that certification expired more than a decade ago.
The POST record also shows that DMC has not worked in public safety in Georgia since she resigned from Rogers State Prison in Tattnall County in August 2013. The record shows no training or continuing education for that certification after August 2, 2013. In total, she has 287 hours of training, 260 of which were the initial corrections officer basic training courses in 2012. If her training and education were up-to-date, she would be eligible to work in a state prison, but she is not authorized to do even that given the expiration of her certification.
DMC did not complete the most recent five hours of training (for Use of Deadly Force and Firearms Requalifications) until August 23 and August 29, respectively.
There are exemptions to the requirement for Basic Mandate: if a person is certified in another state OR has an active federal certification or military police certification, both of which allow for an Equivalency of Training Waiver. In order to obtain the waiver, a person must complete sixteen hours of state training along with a firearms training course before they are eligible to work in a peace officer capacity (See OCGA 35-8-10 (a).
The POST file makes no reference to a waiver issued for DMC and she has not completed 16 hours of training by any measure. Finally, her POST record would reflect that a Basic Law Enforcement certification exists and hers does not.
Corrections Officer Certification vs. Peace Officer Certification
There are stark contrasts between the certification of a corrections officer, which differs from a jailer certification, and the certification of a peace officer. Additionally, unlike jailers, whose certification credits can be applied toward peace officer certification, training hours for corrections officer certifications are not credited toward certification of a peace officer.
The corrections officer training obtained by DMC in 2012 and 2013 does not apply toward the necessary 408 hours to work as a peace officer, thus, she has five of 408 hours or 1.23% of the required hours.
| Corrections Officer | Peace Officer | |
| Basic Mandate Training | 240 Hours | 408 Hours *Recently increased to 810 hours, effective 1/1/25 |
| Length of Training | 5 Weeks | 12 Weeks |
| Provider of Training | Georgia Department of Corrections | GPSTC, Academies at various Tech Schools |
| Work/Training Relationship | Must begin Basic Mandate training within 60 days of hire | Cannot work as a Peace Officer until Basic Mandate is complete |
| Arrest Powers | NO See OCGA 35-8-21 (Only for prisoners & those interacting with prisoners on/near prison grounds) | YES |
| Permitted to carry in gun-free zone on school property | SOMETIMES Only when acting in performance of their official duties or when en route to or from their official duties | YES |
Personnel File with Screven County Sheriff’s Office
Records provided by the Screven County Sheriff’s Office reflect that DMC applied specifically for the School Resource Officer position. The personnel action form lists ‘School Resource Offc/Deputy” as the position title.
Her start date is unclear. While the POST file says 7/5/24, the employee information sheet lists 8/5/24 as the hire date. The personnel action form has an effective date of 8/12/24 with ‘date employed’ listed as 7/24/24 and was signed by Sheriff Mike Kile on 8/2/24.
On August 12, 2024, Kile issued the ‘Official Oath: Deputy Sheriff’ to DMC. It is signed by DMC and Kile.
The POST file obtained by SCSO and within DMC’s personnel file reads “Officer is cleared for employment and training (except courses leading to a certification)” though the document was not dated. Emails from POST to SCSO on 9/9/24 show that DMC was approved to apply for certification for a Peace Officer and 9/12/24 email confirms that DMC was approved to enroll in the Basic Law Enforcement Training Course set to begin on 9/30/24.
The job application also revealed that DMC has been in the private sector since February 2019, but prior to that, DMC served in the United States Air Force working with Electronic Security Systems and intelligence for disaster response. For approximately eighteen months, in 2014 and 2015, DMC worked as a Patrolman and her resume lists response to “17 civilian protests with government approved security tactics, detaining 50 trespassers while securing the base from 312 protestors,” among other things. DMC’s application list a host of certifications ranging from firearms training to sexual assault reporting and disaster response.
With regard to the request agreement with the school system on school safety and school resource officers, SCSO staff said “There is no contract on file with the Screven County Board of Education and the Screven County Sheriff’s Office.”
Confirmation from the School System
While SCSO said no contract existed, the Screven County School System provided a 1998 agreement between the Sheriff’s Office and SCSS with regard to school safety. The agreement has not been updated since. It is at the bottom of the article.
Additionally, in email to TheGeorgiaVirtue.com, Dr. Jim Thompson, Superintendent for the Screven County School System, confirmed that two deputies from the Sheriff’s Office have been in the schools since the start of the school year. Thompson also listed Deputy Katherine Ponder as the assigned school resource officer through SCSO.
Posse Act
Under Georgia law, Sheriffs have the authority to appoint individuals to assist with duties in matters of emergency and disaster relief. The code section – OCGA 17-4-24– was initially instituted for the purpose of assisting with the service of warrants and tax collection.
Neither the initial purpose of the code section nor the more recent interpretation of the code section appear to be the manner in which the statute is being used by the Screven County Sheriff’s Office. The last time the Georgia Attorney General issued an opinion on this matter was 1969 and it dealt specifically with emergency situations.
In recent years, and in an era of increasing litigiousness, the Act has been utilized for POST-certified deputies or officers from other jurisdictions who travel outside their jurisdiction to assist with an incident or an enforcement effort. The “home” sheriff will swear them in under his purview so as to eliminate any liability issues.
Appointment of non-certified individuals to positions of certified personnel opens up the Sheriff’s Office and Screven County generally to considerable liability. The liability increases when equipment and uniforms are issued by the county to the non-certified personnel and the person is placed on duty. It is only exacerbated by the fact that there is a paper trail of documentation indicating the Sheriff’s knowledge of the absent certification, the lacking training at the time of hiring and placement in schools, and the enrollment in Basic Mandate training at the end of the month.
Screven County Board of Education MOU with Screven County Sheriff’s Office
