Houston sheriff’s office expected to take over management of Centerville police

CENTERVILLE -- The Houston County Sheriff’s Office is expected to take over temporary management of the Centerville Police Department.

City Council approved a memorandum of understanding Wednesday morning between the city and Sheriff Cullen Talton. That agreement calls for the sheriff’s office to provide certified public safety officers to oversee and manage Centerville police for 90 days from the agreement’s signing.

Talton said he has temporarily agreed to place one of his deputies over the police department and expects to assign another deputy to Centerville on a part-time basis. Talton said he has not yet decided which deputies would serve in those positions. He also said the agreement includes reimbursement of the salaries of his deputies.

Although the sheriff has agreed to the arrangement in principle, he must still sign the memorandum before it takes effect.

Talton said there are a few issues that need to be ironed out, which he did not disclose. A meeting has been scheduled for Thursday that is expected to include Talton, Chief Deputy Billy Rape and Centerville Mayor John Harley.

The memorandum approved by the council states that deputies provided by the sheriff’s office as well as Centerville police officers will be “under the leadership and control of” Centerville and the sheriff.

Talton said he does not know the details of the problems in the Centerville department that led to the city requesting his help, but he said he understands there are issues related to the new director of police services, Ed Tucker, and the senior ranking police officer, Lt. Phillip Pritchett. Efforts to reach Tucker or Pritchett for comment were unsuccessful Wednesday.

In July, the Centerville City Council placed Tucker, a 52-year-old veteran educator and a Georgia Army National Guard officer, at the helm of the police department immediately after he resigned as a Centerville councilman. The council also abolished the position of assistant police chief, which immediately ended W.G. Cooley’s employment with the city. Cooley had been leading the department after Police Chief Sid Andrews resigned in June for health reasons.

Tucker, who is not a certified public safety officer, was to oversee the department’s administration and personnel but would not have had oversight of law enforcement operations until he went to law enforcement mandate and police chiefs school. Pritchett, who headed the patrol division, has been described as the “interim law enforcement head” for the department.

In the called meeting Wednesday morning, Harley joined Councilmen Jon Nichols and Randall Wright to approve the memorandum seeking help from the Sheriff’s Office. Councilmen Cameron Andrews and Micheal Evans were not at the meeting and therefore did not vote.

After the meeting, Harley declined to answer any questions related to the memorandum or the police department’s structure, specifically why the move to give the Sheriff’s Office oversight of the department was made. He also would not comment on the status of the department’s current leadership.

Harley said the city would provide more details “when we know something.” He would not comment about what the city hoped to find out.

Evans said the Sheriff’s Office would oversee the Police Department until a new police chief can be found and that a non-criminal investigation is taking place into the department’s operations.

Evans declined to comment on the employment status of Tucker and Pritchett, but he noted that neither have been suspended or terminated. Evans would not comment further.

Contact Michael W. Pannell at mwpannell@gmail.com. Contact writer Becky Purser at bpurser@macon.com and find her on Twitter@becpurser.

This story was originally published September 9, 2015 at 10:37 PM with the headline "Houston sheriff’s office expected to take over management of Centerville police ."