Willie Adams’ claim that public servant Jack Camp’s homicide inspired him to propose that recidivists be banned from Albany simply isn’t true
Mayor Willie Adams said this week that public servant Jack Camp’s homicide
inspired him to come up with the idea to ban repeat drug offenders from Albany.
Dr. Adams has some explaining to do.
Public records – and The Albany Journal’s coverage of City Commission meetings – document that Dr. Adams introduced the banishment idea to his colleagues as early as Jan. 16; nearly two months before Mr. Camp’s death on March 14.
Ouch.
Dr. Adams either fibbed or has memory loss; regardless, none of his colleagues had the enough respect for Mr. Camp’s family to call the mayor on his unfortunate gesture Tuesday.
The Albany Journal reported in February that at the Jan. 16 City Commission meeting, Dr. Adams – “always thinking out of the box,” according to the Journal – “wants law enforcement agencies to ban drug offenders with three convictions from the community.”
“Of course, law enforcement agencies can’t do that – but perhaps one of Dr. Adams’ employees, Municipal Court Judge Willie Weather, can,” the Journal wrote. “City Commissioner Bob Langstaff provided Dr. Adams a law-and-order lesson; still, Dr. Adams’ response was, curiously, to ask police for a list of names of repeat drug offenders in Dougherty County. Maj. Derrell Smith, the Albany-Dougherty Drug Unit commander, says he’ll comply with Dr. Adams’ request.”
On March 20 and again this week, Dr. Adams continued his quest to ban recidivist drug offenders from the community. After receiving a list of people with at least three Albany drug arrests, Dr. Adams asked Tuesday for information pertaining to the disposition of those cases, and he once again asked City Attorney Nathan Davis to issue a written opinion regarding whether the City can “restrict these people from the community.”
But Dr. Adams also offered a shocker: He said that he has information that the murder suspects were involved in drug activity, and that the shooting death of Mr. Camp — the Albany-Dougherty Search and Rescue Team deputy commander — motivated him to propose to ban drug offenders from the community.
The transgression is the second significant faux pas by key city leaders directly responsive to Mr. Camp’s death at the East Albany apartment complex at which he served as a security guard.
In a curious – if not cold – gesture – City Manager Alfred Lott held a press conference about 12 hours after the murder to praise the Police Department’s crime clearance rate and otherwise herald the performance of Police Chief James Younger. The media show was held as a result of a journalist making note to Mr. Younger that Mr. Camp’s slaying was the sixth shooting in Albany in five days.
Neither Mr. Lott nor Mr. Younger, meanwhile, offered virtually no information during the press conference about Mr. Camp’s shooting death – despite the killer being at large at the time.
