Decision 2024: Meet Sheriff David Davis, candidate for Bibb County Sheriff

MONICA- Good Afternoon. Today we are sitting down with Sheriff David Davis who is running for re-election for Bibb County Sheriff. First off, thank you so much for joining us today.

DAVID- Thanks, Monica. Thanks for having me.

MONICA- I’m excited. It’s really good to have you here. We want to talk about what you’re looking for with the upcoming election. I have a few questions that we talked about. First off, what do you think is the biggest issue or challenge you see in the upcoming four years as sheriff?

DAVID- Well I think really there are three challenges that we need to face. First of all is to make sure we stay on the trend now of hiring people. We’ve been short staffed for a number of time. We’ve hired over 200 people in the last year and a half. We want to continue that trend. We also need to look at getting parents involved with their kids. We’re starting to see younger individuals, 12, 13, 14-year-olds involved in criminal activity, so we are starting programs at the Sheriff’s Office to get their parents more involved in their life. And then the third part is certainly the jail. You know the comissioners have already talked about the new jail, they’re going to put on the next SPLOST. So starting to plan for that and seeing exactly what kind of jail and what we’re going to need in that facility. And to continue to serve in the community, as we have over my last 3 terms as Sheriff.

MONICA- Okay. So big 3 points ahead. When we are talking about data and we’re looking here in the Macon-Bibb area, what data do you consider most heavily that would indicate that we are gearing towards a safer community?

DAVID- I think the people look at data and you can find data that can pretty much show anything you want to show. But, our data shows and that’s from reported crimes that from this period of January through March of 2024 compared to the same period last year, we’re 12 percent lower overall on crime, 11 percent lower on property crime, burglaries, theft. And 19 percent lower on violent crime, murder, aggravated assault, assaults, all that sort of thing. So we are trending down and that’s on top of the numbers that we saw last year of the trend down in violent crime. Sometimes it takes people’s perception a little time to catch up, but we are trending down and doing things. That’s a lot of the community being involved and the community stepping up, and showing that just because you have a gun in your hand and you’re mad at someone, doesn’t mean you to have to shoot them.

MONICA- That’s right. Wow, those are some big numbers. Those are great things that you’re seeing and you’re getting the community involved, so how do you specifically plan on making Macon-Bibb safer?

DAVID- Well to continue to being out there. I think I’m one of the most accessible elected officials in the county. A lot of people have my number. A lot of people can contact me personally as being out there, mingling with the community, knowing what there concerns are and meeting those needs. Everyday I’m getting a call from someone in the community about somethings that’s happening, something they need help with. And we want to continue that, as I call constituent service, customer service, citizen service that we’ve done in the past. And also look at whatever programs that our community needs. We talked about with the youth, doing our things with our neighborhood watch, intel unit, our technology piece. It’s really come on strong over the last 4 years, as far as the things we can do with cameras, our FLOCK system that we have now. It’s really been a game changer and has been a force multiplier, because we’ll never have all the staff we need, but these technological resources can really make up the difference.

MONICA- Lastly, why do you think you’re the best candidate for this position?

DAVID- Well certainly, I have the experience. I’ve been there for over 40 years. This is my third term as Sheriff. I know this community. I love this community and I have that willingness to serve. I just love the people. To me, being the Sheriff is the best job in the world and I’m just so pleased and honored and grateful that people have let me have this job for 3 terms. I hope that they will see fit to let me have it for one more term.

MONICA- Thank you for interviewing with us today. To find out more details about the upcoming race and more about Mr. Davis, head ton over to 41NBC to find all the details.

Snippets from all candidates’ interviews will air on 41NBC News at 6 p.m., 11 p.m., DayBreak and 41Today. All interviews will also be posted in full on 41NBC.com on the following days:

Monday, April 15 – Davis Davis
Tuesday, April 16 – DeAndre Hall
Wednesday, April 17 – Chris Paul
Thursday, April 18 – Chris Patterson

Follow Monica Diaz-Meek on Facebook and Twitter.