Glynn County, Georgia, Abolish County Police Department Measure (November 2020)

Glynn County Abolish County Police Department Measure
Election date November 3, 2020
Topic Local law enforcement
Status Not on the ballot
Type Referral	Origin Lawmakers
List of Georgia measuresAmendment 1Amendment 2Referendum ASubmit

A measure to abolish the county police department was not on the ballot for voters in Glynn County, Georgia, on November 3, 2020.

A "yes" vote would have supported abolishing the Glynn County Police Department and transferring all existing equipment, resources, and funds to the Sheriff of Glynn County effective May 2, 2021.

A "no" vote would have opposed abolishing the Gynn County Police Department.

Measure design

The measure would have abolished the county police department, which consists of over 110 officers and serves over 80,00 residents. The effective date of the termination of the police department would have been May 2, 2021. All assets, equipment, resources, and funds remaining would have been transferred to the Sheriff of Glynn County.

Text of measure

Ballot title

The ballot title for this measure was as follows:

“

Shall the Act be approved that abolishes the Glynn County Police Department and transfers the functions and assets of such department to the Sheriff of Glynn County?

”

Full Text

The full text of this measure is available here.

Support

Supporters

Officials

• State Senator William Ligon (R)
• State Representative Don Hogan (R)

Arguments

• State Senator William Ligon (R): "I believe it's the right thing to do, to let the people decide this."

Opposition

Opponents

Officials

• State Representative Jeff Jones (R)

Organizations

• NAACP - Brunswick

Arguments

• Georgia State Representative Jeff Jones (R): "Voters elect county commissioners to oversee many things in the county, in particular the police department. For very good reason, the constitution does not give authority over a county police department to state representatives and or state senators. This bill blatantly attempts to go around our constitution and sets a dangerous precedent that the legislature can override the Home Rule provisions of our constitution by an act of the General Assembly."
• John Perry II, president of the Brunswick chapter of the NAACP: Perry said that the NAACP wanted to work with the police in reforming it, not abolish the department. He said, "I think the Ahmaud Arbery incident forced us to come forth and say that nothing is going to get done if we don't actively take part in the change that needs to take place."

Background

Senate Bill 38

Senate Bill 38 (SB 38) was sponsored by Georgia State Senators William Ligon (R) and Bill Cowsert (R) and State Representative Don Hogan (R). It passed the Georgia House of Representatives in a vote of 152-3 with five not voting and 20 abstaining. It passed the Georgia State Senate in a vote of 47-0, with two not voting and two abstaining. It was signed into law by the governor on August 5, 2020.

SB 38 amended Georgia statute to add that after a county police department is created it may be abolished by a local act of the Georgia State Legislature or by a resolution passed by the county governing body. SB 38 allowed the state legislature to pass SB 509 to place the referendum on the Glynn County Police Department on the ballot in November.

Killing of Ahmaud Arbery Jr.

On February 23, 2020, Ahmaud Arbery Jr. was shot and killed in Brunswick, Georgia, a city in Glynn County. Georgia Bureau of Investigation arrested Greg McMichael, Travis McMichael, and William Bryan Jr. on charges including malice and felony murder in Arbery's death. The incident was filmed by Bryan and shared widely, leading to protests and demonstrations over racism.

George Floyd death and protests

See also: Policy changes in response to the killing of and protests about George Floyd

On May 25, 2020, Minneapolis police officers arrested George Floyd, a black man, after receiving a call that he had made a purchase with a counterfeit $20 bill. Floyd died after Derek Chauvin, a white officer, arrived at the scene and pressed his knee onto Floyd's neck as Floyd laid face-down on the street in handcuffs. Both the Hennepin County Medical Examiner and an independent autopsy conducted by Floyd's family ruled Floyd's death as a homicide stemming from the incident. The medical examiner's report, prepared by Dr. Michael Baden and Dr. Allecia Wilson, said that it was "not a legal determination of culpability or intent, and should not be used to usurp the judicial process."

Floyd's death was filmed and shared widely, leading to protests and demonstrations over racism, civil rights, and police use of force. The first protests took place in Minneapolis-St. Paul on May 26. A protest in Chicago organized by Chance the Rapper and Rev. Michael Pfleger took place the same day, making it the first major city outside of Minneapolis to host a protest over Floyd's death.

Click here to read more about responses to the killing of and protests about George Floyd.

Related 2020 ballot measures

See also: Local police-related ballot measures following the killing of and protests about George Floyd (November 2020)

Ballotpedia identified 18 local police-related or law enforcement measures on the ballot for November 3, 2020, that qualified following the death of George Floyd. The local ballot measures were on the ballot in nine cities and four counties within six states. The local ballot measures concerned police practices, police oversight boards and auditors, police staffing and funding levels, recordings from police body and dashboard cameras, and other policies.

State	Jurisdiction	Title	Description	Result
California	Los Angeles County	Measure J	Requires that no less than 10% of the county's general fund be appropriated to community programs and alternatives to incarceration	a
California	Oakland	Measure S1	Changes the powers, duties, and staffing of the Oakland Police Commission and creates the Office of Inspector General	a
California	San Diego	Measure B	Replaces the Community Review Board on Police Practices with the Commission on Police Practices that would be appointed by the city council to conduct investigations and subpoena witnesses and documents related to deaths resulting from police interactions and complaints made against police officers	a
California	San Francisco	Proposition D	Creates the Sheriff's Department Oversight Board and the Sheriff's Department Office of Inspector General	a
California	San Francisco	Proposition E	Removes the mandatory police staffing level from the city's charter	a
California	San Jose	Measure G	Authorizes the independent police auditor to review reports and records related to officer-involved shootings and uses of force	a
California	Sonoma County	Measure P	Makes changes to the powers and duties of the Independent Office of Law Enforcement Review and Outreach (IOLERO)	a/ot
Illinois	DuPage County	Law Enforcement Budget Advisory Referendum	Advises the county to continue to consider law enforcement and public safety as its top budgeting priority	a
Illinois	DuPage County	Law Enforcement Injury Risk Training Advisory Referendum	Advises the county to continue to fund and support law enforcement training methods that decrease the risk of injury to officers and suspects	a
Ohio	Akron	Release of Recordings from Police Body and Dashboard Cameras after Use of Force Charter Amendment	Requires recordings from police body and dashboard cameras documenting police use of force that results in death or serious injury to be released to the public	a
Ohio	Columbus	Issue 2	Creates the Civilian Police Review Board to investigate alleged police misconduct, subpoena testimony and evidence during the investigations, make recommendations to the Division of Police, and appoint and manage the new position of Inspector General for the Division of Police	a
Oregon	Portland	Measure 26-217	Establishes a new police oversight board in the city's charter	a
Pennsylvania	Philadelphia	Question 1	Adds language to the Philadelphia City Charter calling on the police department to "eliminate the practice of unconstitutional stop and frisk, consistent with judicial precedent"	a
Pennsylvania	Philadelphia	Question 3	Creates a Citizens Police Oversight Commission to replace the Police Advisory Commission	a
Pennsylvania	Pittsburgh	Independent Citizen Police Review Board Charter Amendment	Requires police officers to cooperate with investigations conducted by the Independent Citizen Police Review Board	a
Texas	Kyle	Proposition F	Amends the city charter to authorize the city council to adopt procedures and a committee to review the police department	a
Washington	King County	Charter Amendment 1	Requires investigations into all police-related deaths and to provide public attorneys to represent the decedent's family in the investigation	a
Washington	King County	Charter Amendment 4	Amends the county charter to authorize the Office of Law Enforcement Oversight (OLEO) to subpoena witnesses, documents, and other evidence in its investigations of law enforcement personnel	a
Washington	King County	Charter Amendment 5	Returns the office of the sheriff from an elected position to an appointed position that is appointed by the county executive and confirmed by the county council	a
Washington	King County	Charter Amendment 6	Gives the county council the authority to specify the duties of the sheriff	a

Path to the ballot

See also: Laws governing local ballot measures in Georgia

This measure was put on the ballot through a vote of the Georgia State Legislature. Senate Bill (SB 509) was introduced on June 15, 2020, by Senator William Ligon (R). It was approved by the Georgia State Senate on June 18, 2020, in a vote of 46-1 with six not voting and two absent. On June 23, it was approved by the Georgia House of Representatives in a vote of 152-2 with seven not voting and 19 absent.

Glynn County Board of Commissioners lawsuit

The Glynn County Board of Commissioners filed a lawsuit against the Georgia Secretary of State and the State Board of Elections on August 28. The Board of Commissioners said the measure would transfer county assets through "an unlawful referendum and election process in violation of the Georgia Constitution and state election law."

On September 11, 2020, the Georgia Superior Court ruled that abolishment of a local police department could not be decided through a local referendum. According to the court, the authority to abolish the police is held by local officials. Michael Browning, the chair of the Glynn County Board of Commissioners, said, "[The referendum] was unconstitutional from the get-go."

See also

Local measures

• Local measures in 2020
• Local law enforcement on the ballot

• Glynn County measures

Georgia

• November 3, 2020 measures in Georgia
• Local ballot measures, Georgia
• Glynn County, Georgia

News and analysis

• State and local preemption conflicts
• Measures advancing national agendas

External links

Suggest a link

• Search Google News for this topic
• Glynn County Elections Office website