Macon City Council Approves Changes to Police Internal Affairs

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – The city of Macon has approved a plan that would reorganize Internal Affairs and arm officers with tasers.

The ordinance will now require additional accountability and input in regards to the Macon Police Department’s disciplinary board. It will include two voting and participating citizens in the Internal Affairs processes; involve the mayor and the chief administrative officer in the complaints and require a quicker rotation of the officers on the board. This now means that the CAO and the police chief would ultimately decide on whether to discipline an officer or not.

MPD will also purchase additional tasers for its officers. The department currently has 20 tasers that belong to the SWAT team.

Council also approved an amendment that would require the Georgia Bureau of Investigations to get take charge of any police-involved shooting investigation. 

The urge for change comes shortly after Sammie Davis, Jr. was shot and killed by Macon Police officer Clayton Sutton outside Kroger. Within recent months, several other officers have been arrested for various incidents. Sutton, the officer involved in the Kroger incident, was disciplined more than a dozen times before the shooting.