Small Georgia town reinstates police officers and department 2 days after the mayor fired them all

COHUTTA, Ga. (AP) — A town council in a small north Georgia mountain community passed an ordinance Friday reinstating the community’s police department and restoring the jobs of the police officers two days after the mayor fired them all.

A standing room-only crowd of townspeople, news media and the police officers attended the special meeting of the Cohutta Town Council, council member and Vice Mayor Shane Kornberg told The Associated Press afterward.

The officers were reinstated immediately and will receive back pay, Kornberg said.

A sign posted earlier this week in the town of about 930 people announced that the police department had been dissolved “per Mayor Ron Shinnick.” It told people who need help to call a nonemergency county number.

The jobs of the chief and about 10 officers were terminated as of Wednesday morning. Exact reasons haven’t been shared publicly.

Shinnick said he took action because of some comments officers posted on social media. The now-former Sgt. Jeremy May said it involved a complaint that he and other officers had raised about the mayor’s wife, Pam Shinnick, who had served as the town clerk.

“This all comes to personal vendetta from the mayor, and I wholeheartedly believe that,” May told Read Entire Article