After six months of serving as the City of Baldwin’s Police Chief, Jeff Branyon delivered an update to the Baldwin City Council Monday on the state of the department and reflected on the changes they’ve made.
Branyon recounted the police department’s rebranding efforts to have a community-centric approach to policing, their transparency goals, upgrades to weapons, taser systems and bodycams, updates to their policies to match current law enforcement standards, and training their officers in Narcan administration and crisis intervention.
“The goal was community policing,” Councilwoman Stephanie Almagno said. “It feels, with the change away from tactical dress, and more neighborhood patrols and knowing the officers, it feels like we’re heading in that direction. So thank you.”
The department has also made progress in tackling a backlog of criminal history reports for the Georgia Crime Information Center (GCIC) database, and Branyon expects to be caught up with those reports by the end of next month.
Branyon says he’s pleased with where the Baldwin Police Department is, but they still have room to grow.
“We’re not where we want to be, but I don’t know that we’ll ever be where we want to be,” Branyon tells Now Habersham. “I think if you get complacent, you’re not doing your job, so I think we’re going to always be evolving. What’s the next thing, how do we serve the community better?”
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Even with all the progress Branyon had to report to the council, staffing for Baldwin’s Police Department, like in many public safety departments around the county, continues to be a struggle.
“Staffing is a challenge, people aren’t beating the doors down to be police officers right now,” Branyon says. “That’s the reality. Right now I have one opening that I’m trying to fill for a full-time officer. I’ve had a couple of officers we’re talking to, I’m hoping one of these is going to work out and we’ll land them.”
The department currently has four full-time officers and two part-time officers.
Staffing in the coming year is something the police department is determining as they go through their budget and determine what full-staff will look like for the city. But he says 24-hour police coverage, which they are currently relying on the help of the Habersham County Sheriff’s Office to cover, is in the near future for Baldwin.
“The goal is to make that happen as soon as we can possibly do that,” Branyon says. “I think that’s in the near future.”
The council was happy with his report, extending their appreciation for his leadership and the department as they make the changes they hoped to see in their city’s law enforcement.
“We absolutely appreciate you,” Councilman Maarten Venter said. “What the police department has done in conjunction with GCIC in the last few weeks here is nothing short of phenomenal, especially considering the state of law enforcement in America as a whole right now.”
