Since the early 1950s, the Georgia Sheriffs’ Association has existed to support the Office of Sheriff through training, technical and operational support, legal assistance and legislative and governmental affairs representation. Membership of the Association is limited to Georgia’s 159 elected sheriffs who are the chief law enforcement officers of each county throughout the state.
The mandates, duties and responsibilities of the Office of Sheriff are many and varied and are unmatched by all other local, state or federal law enforcement agencies. Sheriffs offices enforce the criminal and civil laws of the state, operate the county jail ensuring the health and safety of jail staff and inmates, serve and protect the courts, register and track the movement of sex offenders, transport mental patients for evaluation and perform many other law enforcement related activities. The Office of Sheriff is a Constitutional Office not a department of county government and those who are elected as the sheriff are answerable only to the citizens.
Elected sheriffs and their deputies, jailers and civilian staff have a unique relationship with the communities they serve due mainly to their extensive work in the criminal justice system, the jail environment, mental health services, and the juvenile justice system. No other local, state or Federal law enforcement agency has such broad exposure and none are closer to the public. As a result of this longtime exposure, our sheriffs, deputy sheriffs and jailers have become the most versatile law enforcement officers throughout the country and must necessarily avail themselves to a wide range of training platforms.
Over the past twenty six years, one of the most insightful and beneficial training initiatives available to sheriffs’ offices has been the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange (GILEE). This important peer-to-peer executive law enforcement training has enabled our sheriffs and command level staff to meet with law enforcement counterparts from more that twenty-five countries and twenty five other states for the purpose of exchanging ideas concerning best practices for effective and humane policing. The Association rejects all claims that these professional training exchanges include exercises of instruction relative to tactical or military operations designed to oppress minority populations or other specific groups. Accusations that these valuable international training exchanges lead to deadly encounters in the United States are fallacious and slanderous. Our sheriffs and staff have given the GILEE program tremendous praise and their continued support.
The Georgia Sheriffs’ Association greatly appreciates the continued opportunity to participate in the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange organized through Georgia State University’s Andrew Young School of Policy Studies. The initiative is meaningful to the safety of Georgians and it is our hope to continue our participation for many years to come.