Former Chatham County Sheriff's Deputy Kevin Burns explains why he wants the top job
Kevin Burns, a former Chatham County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) Advanced Deputy, announced his candidacy for Chatham County Sheriff last August.
In November's general election, Burns aims to supplant his former boss, current Sheriff John Wilcher, who replaced six-term sheriff Al St. Lawrence, who died in office in 2015. Seven months after winning a special election for the seat, Wilcher was elected to a full term and re-elected in 2020. Wilcher intends to run for re-election. Richard Coleman, a law enforcement officer who has served in multiple departments throughout Georgia, also is vying for the post of Chatham County Sheriff.
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From 1990 through 2003, Burns served as a special patrolman/peace officer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. From 2003 through 2007, Burns taught as a substitute teacher at DeRenne Middle School and served as an afterschool program director for Lutheran Services of Georgia (now Inspiritus). From 2007 through 2010, Burns served as a juvenile corrections officer at the Savannah Regional Youth Detention Center. From 2010 through 2022, he worked as an advanced deputy at CCSO, working in the Court Services Division, Patrol/Street Division, Corrections Division and Detainee Transportation.
Burns holds an associate's degree in Liberal Arts and a bachelor's of science in paralegal studies from St. John's University of Queens, New York.
Should he succeed Wilcher, Burns discussed his vision for the sheriff's office, based on a platform of auditing the jail, preventing crime, and improving training.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Why are you running for Chatham County sheriff?
"My goal as the next sheriff is to make the county safer for all the citizens of Chatham County, regardless of religion, background or race."
How do you propose to make the county safer?
"For me, it means that we can do more by involving local police, municipalities, having more meetings with them. I understand that there's a shortage of law enforcement officers across the land. I think it's time for the sheriff to get involved with these other law enforcement agencies.
We know that Savannah has a real high crime rate. The bottom line is that, if you look around Chatham County, it is constantly growing. We have this mega Hyundai plant that's been built. You're actually talking about maybe 16,000 people coming in. You’re talking about more home development, residential and commercial. And then you have tourism, which went up post pandemic.
So, that also means that crime is gonna go up, as well. Then you have migrants. So I mean, crime is gonna go up a little bit. We already have a high rate of violent crime. We have gang activity that's going on in Chatham County, and then our youth offenders' crime rate is high. The Sheriff’s Office needs to be more involved in helping bring down some of the crime."
Is that something you saw at the jail when you worked there?
"Yes. I understand that the sheriff fully concentrates primarily on the jail. But even with that, under Mr. Wilcher, there have been 19 deaths at that jail since 2016. He lacks accountability. He lacks transparency. And the reason being is that starting in 2016, the Chatham County Sheriff's Office was staffed with qualified, experienced dedicated officers. But Mr. Wilcher’s former chief deputy, he fired a lot of those individuals. I think mismanagement of staff and mistreatment of staff was primarily the main thing.
Working the jail is tough. Not everyone can work the jail. You need qualified, dedicated people to work the jail. As a result now, Mr. Wilcher is trying to recall those officers that were negligently terminated."
How were they negligently terminated?
"I think that they were [found] at fault for things that they couldn't control. You also have favoritism, all that other stuff that comes into play."
How has Sheriff Wilcher lacked transparency?
"He's lacked transparency because when there's a death, I think that the sheriff should automatically come out and say, ‘Hey, listen, this is what occurred.’
There’s 19 [deaths], but there could be more. You had two deaths in the jail due to fentanyl.
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I believe that they have terminated an officer because that officer was found trying to smuggle in fentanyl. I think it's the responsibility of the sheriff to come out and at least say something, you know, was what had transpired.
In law enforcement, people want to know, and they have that right to know what's going on, when something like that has happened."
What do you plan on changing inside the jail?
"The sheriff's office has a medical infirmary, which I think is not run properly. I think if inmates are sick, you just take them to the hospital. I think the liability levels are so high in the jail from the medical unit that they have. The medical unit that they have is good because then you can kind of isolate the sick inmates from the regular population.
But it's bad on the other hand, because I still don't feel that they get the proper treatment that they need. A lot of it is, I can tell you, that regular inmates don’t get the proper medical treatment that they need. They don't get their medication on time, if they get their medication at all. And also, we can talk about the mental health factors. We have a lot of mentally ill people in the jail that don't really deserve to be at the jail because the jail isn't a mental health facility. That's a problem."
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Meanwhile, the taxpayer is wasting money... all these mentally ill people in the jail, they're not getting the proper medical treatment that they need. There could be other organizations out there that are willing to help. But it takes Mr. Wilcher to go out and say, ‘Hey, listen, we need help with this.’ But that's not what you're getting.
To be honest with you, I would definitely audit the jail. Because there are a lot of things that need to be changed to make the jail run, I should say function, smoothly. Right now, you don't have the proper manpower. So, it's dangerous. It's dangerous for the inmate, it’s dangerous for the correctional officers, it’s dangerous for the civilian staff. God forbid, someone's going to get hurt or killed, because you don't have the necessary manpower. And that's a problem."
How would you increase staffing at the jail?
"First of all, pay these people. You want some good officers to come in and work and do the demanding job? You have to add some incentives.
We’re not talking about trying to raise taxes on anything with the citizens of Chatham County. But I think, first of all, give these people a raise, give them a raise that's comparable to maybe Savannah PD. They earned it, they’re in the jail. It's a tough job. Let’s even revisit some subsidized housing. Let's even try some subsidized childcare. There’s people that would love to come to work in Chatham County."
Drew Favakeh is the public safety and courts reporter for Savannah Morning News. You can reach him at AFavakeh@savannahnow.com.
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Kevin Burns explains why he's running for Chatham County Sheriff
