Interim Columbus police chief wants to be city’s next permanent leader of the department

Kelby Hutchison
·2 min read
Stoney Mathis answers questions from the media Monday morning. Columbus Mayor Skip Henderson has appointed Chief Stoney Mathis as Interim police chief of the Columbus Police Department. 05/08/2023

The interim chief of the Columbus Police Department has applied for the permanent position, according to the department.

Interim Chief Stoney Mathis was appointed by Columbus Mayor Skip Henderson in May after the departure of former Chief Freddie Blackmon, who accepted a $400,000 severance package.

Mathis had formerly served as chief for the Chattahoochee Hills Police Department and the Fairburn Police Department prior to coming to Columbus.

During his time as the Fairburn police chief from 2018 to 2022 the city saw a 52% decrease in its crime rate, Henderson said during his appointment.

Mathis ran as a Republican last year for Georgia House District 68, losing to Democrat Tish Naghise in the Nov. 8 General Election, according to Ledger-Enquirer reporting.

Originally from North Carolina, he graduated with a criminal justice degree from Lawton, Oklahoma, in 1992. He graduated from the DEA’s Academy in Quantico, Virginia in 2004, according to a news release from the Mayor’s office at the time of his appointment.

Henderson told the Ledger-Enquirer Friday that the next step in the process for picking a new chief will be putting together citizen focus groups. Henderson said that The Mercer Group executive search firm is currently handling the applications and said that the city will follow the same protocol they have in the past.

On July 13, Henderson told the Ledger-Enquirer the city expected to identify a permanent police chief by fall. In that interview Henderson said, “I couldn’t be more pleased with what Chief Mathis has done in the short time he’s been here.”

Henderson said at that time that if Mathis were to apply he would welcome the opportunity to review his credentials along with the credentials of other candidates that have applied for the position.

“We’ll follow the process, it’s the process we committed to from the very beginning. So we’re going to go through the entire process of doing a nationwide search,” Henderson said at that time.