Other officers awaiting word from SBI as audit completed
Gillespie
Andrews – If the town decides to reinstate any police officers at the conclusion of the state’s probe, it will have to find a new chief.
Former police chief Colin Gillespie, who was appointed to run the Andrews Police Department in March, tendered his resignation on June 3. The entire town police force has been suspended for the last two months as the State Bureau of Investigation probes events that took place in mid-April.
Gillespie – plus Officers Logan Howarth, Coyle Olsen and Greg Shields – reportedly moved at least two security cameras inside the police department, one of which covers a hallway containing evidence lockers and an entrance to one of the evidence rooms.
The decision to manipulate security cameras in the police department followed an article in the April 14 edition of the Cherokee Scout, which reported that Olsen reached a speed of 64 mph before wrecking a patrol car on a downtown street. The report relied on data from the vehicle’s automatic locator, which was provided by the Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office in response to a public records request.
Andrews officers stopped using automatic vehicle locators after the article was published and reportedly moved the cameras in town hall because they felt they were being “spied upon” by dispatch personnel in the sheriff’s office. Since dispatchers do not have the ability to view inside the police department, the two security cameras remained faced toward different locations for more than 24 hours before a town hall employee noticed the surveillance monitor appeared unusual.
The camera covering the evidence room helps preserve the integrity of criminal cases, protect law enforcement personnel from false accusations of evidence tampering and protect the public from rogue police officers. Moving the camera is not illegal, per se, but manipulation of evidence inside the room could potentially be illegal.
Auditors from BlueLine Training Group in Clemmons audited the evidence rooms over the course of a week and produced a report that will serve as a baseline from which state investigators will work. Town officials temporarily declined a records request for the report, citing the ongoing investigation.
Andrews paid $13,292.54 for BlueLine to conduct the audit and produce the report. The invoice says auditors worked 50 hours at a pay rate of $250 per hour. Lodging for the two auditors cost a total of $792.54.
At the June 8 meeting, the Andrews Board of Aldermen appointed town administrator Sandy Dobson to serve as administrative police chief without extra compensation while the investigation plays out. Her salary remains $45 per hour.
As of the Scout’s press time Tuesday morning, Howarth, Olsen and Shields remain suspended with pay.