Commission asking sheriff back to discuss law enforcement
BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
Telegraph Editor
The family of a man arrested for a crime he couldn’t have committed brought the case to city commissioners last week.
They say Starke police arrested Ray Charles Smith Jr. and placed him before a judge based on the claim of a single witness without realizing Smith had a foolproof alibi.
Smith was hospitalized at the time the woman claimed someone attempted to carjack her.
Nevertheless, the witness had identified Smith as the assailant in a photo lineup of potential suspects. Starke police picked him up at the Circle K convenience store in town a few days later. He spent the night in jail accused of battery and carjacking.
Juanita Profit, Smith’s mother, said they were told there was an arrest warrant for her son, but she had been shown no evidence of a warrant. The online court record shows no evidence of a warrant.
“I know for a fact that if you’ve got a warrant, they’ll be at your door,” she said.
Not only did the nighttime video from the convenience store fail to show a detailed image of the suspect, but Profit also said the video couldn’t have depicted her son, who was hospitalized in Gainesville when the crime occurred.
According to the arrest report, the attempted carjacker was wearing a hooded sweatshirt tied closely around his head, making his face less visible.
“The man was very thin with a petite build,” the witness said in the arrest report. “A thin face, but I did not see his face in detail.”
Camera footage from the store only showed a “shadow” running from the vehicle as the suspect fled.
Police were apparently confident enough after the witness identified Smith in the photo lineup. The arrest report states Smith is “known to wear a gray hoodie and frequent Circle K.”
Profit said it wasn’t until her son’s arraignment the morning after his arrest that the public defender was allowed to present written proof of Smith’s alibi.
Smith’s mother told Starke commissioners she couldn’t help but wonder what if her son had been killed because of a false identification — a Black man picked out of a lineup.
Smith’s father, Ray Smith Sr., said his son is mentally disabled, and he questioned whether city streets were safe for special needs people if someone can be arrested based on mistaken identity. He worries even more for his son, who walks the city early in the morning, late at night, visiting places like the courthouse and the Circle K, helping with the garbage collection.
What has really weighed on his mind, Smith’s father said, is what would have happened if his son had not been in Gainesville at the time of the crime.
“So, what would we be talking about right now? We’d probably be talking about him being in jail, not knowing what’s going on and not having an idea of why,” Smith Sr. said.
He asked how safe can people feel with that officer on the force and what do his actions say about the department’s leadership, using a sport’s analogy of a player’s actions reflecting upon his coach.
Danielle Smith also spoke, asking about officer training and the impact of budget cuts.
“Are we getting to know our people in the community as officers? Are we doing any kind of training? What are we doing in situations like this so that it doesn’t happen again?” she asked, claiming this situation was not a first for the city.
She said Smith Jr. had been treated as if he was guilty until proven innocent.
“How much did we really investigate before we just put this lady in front of six people on the lineup? What kind of investigation did we really do?” she asked.
“What are we doing to fix these problems? Because like I said, this is not the first issue that we’ve had. We’ve had plenty. I mean, we need answers as a community,” she said.
Commission weighs in
With his experience in law enforcement, Commissioner Andy Redding said he was alarmed by everything presented at the meeting.
“You have to have the means, a motive and the opportunity. So right out the gate, it seems to me that it is abundantly clear that there was no opportunity for this to have occurred,” he said. “Without pointing fingers or anything else, it comes down to somebody’s going to have to pick the ball up with this, and answers are going to have to be given.”
While there have been discussions about budgeting and manpower, Redding said the record should show that the commission has not repeatedly cut the police budget. A cut was proposed, and Chief Jeff Johnson undercut it by proposing an even lower number. There was a “mass exodus” of personnel, Redding said, followed by new hires. Johnson confirmed he now has a 12-person police department.
Redding said after personnel costs, the chief has around $300,000 a year of his $1.1 million budget to pay operating costs. It doesn’t seem sustainable, he said.
“It comes back to leadership. You are our elected chief of police, and people are going to want answers. And if they don’t get answers, they’re going to want answers from us,” he said.
Commissioner Janice Mortimer apologized to Ray Smith Jr., his family and the community for what happened.
“It’s unfortunate that someone that is innocent has to prove his innocence during this day in time,” she said, adding the city had just settled a similar case for $6,500. The commission is liable for the actions of a department over which it has not control, she said. The police chief is still elected and answers to the voters.
“We settled one lawsuit and are probably going to have to deal with another one because of this,” Mortimer said. “It’s unfortunate that this board has been put in the position, but it is what it is, and we have to step up to our responsibilities.”
With that she brought up the commission’s past invitation to the sheriff, who was asked to present a plan to provide law enforcement services to the city. Mortimer said she had not been convinced Sheriff Gordon Smith could provide the same level of service for the $345,000 he requested in June. She said the city always needs two officers on shift, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Mortimer said she was told that both law enforcement heads met following the budget meetings and agreed that felony investigations in the city would be turned over to the sheriff’s office. Johnson said it was discussed, but there was no agreement. Mortimer said the sheriff assured her that they had agreed, and she suggested the chief reach out to the sheriff to clear up any misunderstanding.
“If that was the case, then this this incident would have been — should have been — sent over to the sheriff’s office for them to do the investigation and to carry out whatever was needed,” she said.
“You know, the word on the street is that things are going slack or lacking in the police department because we, this board, cut your budget,” Mortimer said, asking if that was a message Johnson was spreading. The chief denied it, saying “people lie.”
Mortimer said the commission has asked for information on police department staffing and organization, and she again requested that Johnson provide that as well as the exact amount it will cost to provide 24/7 coverage of the city every single day.
She also moved to have the city manager request that Sheriff Smith return to the commission in January with the cost to provide the same service, down to the penny. Mayor Scott Roberts joined Mortimer and Redding in voting for the request. Commissioner Danny Nugent maintained his opposition to law enforcement consolidation, saying the city should handle things “in house” and not rush to involve the sheriff. (Commissioner Shannon Smith was absent.)
The target date for those presentations in Jan. 16.
Johnson said he would prepare the numbers, but he would not be present for the meeting. Mortimer cautioned him about oversight of his department, saying the mice play when the cat is away.
“When you go away, I think it’s important that the people of this city that vote for me and for you will be able to lay down at night and rest assured that they’re going to be safe,” she said. “That’s what we expect from our police department.”
