and By JOHN

THOMPSON

[email protected]

County marshals

making traffic arrests are acting outside the scope of their legal authority

and may be placing the county in jeopardy of lawsuits, Fayette County

Sheriff Randall Johnson wrote to the Fayette County Commission Thursday.

The sheriff

served notice that the county jail will no longer accept prisoners arrested

"It is

important for you to know that marshals do not have the power of arrest

without a warrant," Johnson wrote the commissioners in a letter obtained

Because of

that, Johnson said, "I will not accept traffic cases, or any other

accusations of violations of state law made by marshals, into the county

jail."

Commission

Chairman Greg Dunn is dismissing the controversy as "nothing but

silliness. There's nothing to it," he said. Dunn called the sheriff's

concerns "paranoia."

Dunn is still

studying a letter from Johnson expressing the sheriff's concerns about

the marshals. The marshals' department was created by the commission in

the 1980s to enforce county ordinances like zoning rules. "Their

job description has not changed. They're doing the same things they always

have," Dunn said Thursday.

The sheriff's

letter raises the question whether the marshals have the statutory authority

to do those "things they have always" done and whether the uniformed

marshals might be acting beyond their jurisdiction.

The sheriff

noted a mid-1990s opinion by the state attorney general's office that

said state law specifically forbids marshals from acting with police powers.

In a story

in The Citizen Wednesday, both County Administrator Chris Cofty and longtime

Emergency Services Chief Jack Krakeel denied that the county intended

for the marshals to become a de facto county police force.

The flap has

been replayed many times in Georgia. Generally it pits a county's sheriff

with his constitutional powers against a county commission that wants

more control over county law enforcement activities.

"Nothing

has been said to me with respect to creating a law enforcement police

department," Krakeel said.

"My concern

is, notwithstanding the recent comments to the press, an attempt seems

to be afoot to use the Marshal's Office as a county police department,"

the sheriff countered. "The law is clear and unambiguous that they

are not the same, and marshals cannot perform duties that may be performed

"If they

[marshals] observe a traffic offense that endangers the public, then yes,"

a marshal will make a traffic stop, Krakeel said in The Citizen Wednesday.

"... If someone is crossing a double-yellow line on a curve or weaving

erratically," the marshals will make a traffic stop to protect the

public, said Krakeel, who now heads the newly created umbrella department

that includes the marshals.

Those traffic

stops worry the sheriff, who said marshals have no authority to stop drivers

for traffic violations, although at least nine such arrests were made

in the past month, an examination of state court records by The Citizen

revealed.

"Any traffic

stop may necessitate an arrest, and thus a marshal would have placed himself

as well as the county in a position of tremendous liability," Johnson

wrote.

"In addition

any investigation of violations of any other state law, whether having

been committed on county property or not, might also necessitate an arrest

and again would place the marshal and the county in a position of significant

liability," the sheriff wrote.

"The only

duties marshals/constables have are the ones conferred on them by statute,"

Johnson wrote. "Marshals do not have general police powers and are

not charged with any duty to enforce criminal laws of the state."

Johnson also

said he was concerned that the marshals' new badges identifying them as

public safety deputies "will mislead the public as to the authority

of these marshals."

That's one

of the things Dunn finds most amusing. The marshals' new badges have Public

Safety Deputy on the top portion of the badge, and marshal underneath.

"All of

the people in the public safety division will have those badges, including

the 911 personnel and animal control," Dunn added.

The commission

chairman said Thursday he is just flabbergasted by all the controversy

this week over what he calls a "reorganization."

"We've

put the county's departments under six different divisions to make things

more workable. It hasn't cost the taxpayers anything, except for small

salary increases for the division directors. It's not like we're Peachtree

City and going out and hiring an assistant city administrator," he

said.

Dunn said the

marshals are not patrolling the county's roads, but said if they see something

happening, they will investigate the incident.

"I'm sure

the sheriff doesn't want to see a drunk driver get away," he said.

The commission

chairman also pointed to the recently passed county budget as proof that

there is not a "secret" plot to start a county police department.

"Why is

it that the only increase in the budget was for the Sheriff's Department

and not the marshals?"

Dunn dismissed

the whole situation as "paranoia" and thinks the county's time

can best be spent worrying about other issues.

The controversy

also is likely to affect pending cases in Fayette State Court, which has

jurisdiction in some cases involving marshals' citations, but just what

impact the police powers dispute might have long-term is still unkn own.