Dear Fellow Fayette Countians,
Four years ago you chose to elect me to serve as your Sheriff and I have been both honored and humbled to serve you each and every moment since. More than 37 years ago, when I first began my career with the Sheriff’s Office, I realized immediately how much our agency was a part of the community. Today my staff and I spend each day working on solutions to keep our community safe and our agency relative to you.
Since taking office as your sheriff in 2009, I have led our agency through the greatest period of technological enhancements in its entire history. This was accomplished by using confiscated funds and not tax dollars.
Today, each and every one of our patrol deputies and investigators are equipped with laptop computers. These computers connect us to the Fayette County Emergency 911 Communications Center, our own newly enhanced records management system, jail management system and other law enforcement agencies. This connectivity provides real-time information to our field personnel which allow them to be more effective than ever.
Realizing that our first line of defense in crime deterrence is visibility in the field, this technology was given a high priority in order to keep our deputies in the field instead of in the office preparing reports. Also, our response times to calls for service continue to improve every day by having this technology.
We have worked very hard to ensure that our community remains one of the safest in the state of Georgia and we remain the safest community in the metropolitan Atlanta area. The crime rate in unincorporated Fayette County has remained pretty much flat over the past seven years.
The top 9 crime categories, known as Part I Offenses, have ranged from a low of 752 in 2007 to a high of 864 in 2005. The 2011 number of 847 is exactly the same number as 2006 (detailed statistics may be found on the Sheriff’s Office website, www.fayettesheriff.org). None of our adjoining counties or comparable metro Atlanta counties recorded anywhere close to the low number we experienced.
Communications is important, perhaps as much as any other task we undertake everyday. Knowledge is the key to enhancing your feeling of safety and security. I directed our staff to develop a new official website – www.fayettesheriff.org.
The site went live in 2010 and provides a wealth of information about the Sheriff’s Office, but most importantly it provides information to our citizens on crime prevention and what type crimes are occurring in our community so citizens may better protect themselves. You can go online and register to receive automatic notifications of criminal activity that may be occurring in your area. You can check for the addresses of registered sex offenders. You can make a traffic complaint or request we watch your home while you are away. These are just a few things you will find on the website.
I meet regularly with the police chiefs in the county to keep apprised of what our agencies are doing and how we can always work together. We see each other often at the various board or committee meetings we attend and many times we have informal dinner meetings just to compare notes on issues impacting our agencies and the community.
I am available to you at any time for conversations about our community, to learn of problems and concerns from you directly, and ways to improve our operations. I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible at the many homeowners and civic organization meetings I attend on a regular basis or even the one-on-one meetings I have regularly at the office.
I pledge to you to continue to be fiscally responsible and accountable to each and every one of you. I will continue to ensure that we at the Sheriff’s Office will continue to look for new and innovate ways to improve our operations and be mindful of the financial situation of our county and your tax dollars. I will continue to make criminal’s pay for enhancements we need to do our work.
I have used Equitable Sharing Funds (seized drug money) to fund our enhancements in technology, equipment and training instead of burdening the taxpayers with these needs; I will continue to do this in every situation legally possible. We will hold the line on taxpayer funded expenses.
The staff of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office is one of the finest in the nation. You can rest assured that tonight as you sleep, we will be there to protect you and our community. I will continue to ensure that deputies have whatever they need to keep it that way.
I would certainly appreciate your vote in the Republican Primary so that I may continue serving you and the community for many years to come. Please visit my campaign website, SheriffWayneHannah.com, for more information.
If you have any questions or comments, please contact me on my direct line at the Sheriff’s Office at 770-716-4800 or by email at whannah@fayettecountyga.govI can also be reached on my personal cell phone at 770-851-5033 or my personal email whannah2012@comcast.net.
Sheriff Wayne Hannah
Fayetteville, Ga.
