Troubles continue to mount for former Clayton Police Chief Jeff Turner, who was placed on unpaid administrative leave Tuesday night while officials investigate whether he improperly used surveillance equipment.
The Clayton County Board of Commissioners removed Turner as police chief last month. He was made director of the Clayton Police Academy with no change in pay.
The board placed him on up to four weeks of unpaid leave starting on Tuesday night while Clayton County Board Commissioner Chief of Staff Alex Cohilas looks into Turner's use of an electronic tracking device while chief of police.
Cohilas gave memos and sworn affidavits from the Clayton County Police Department to Clayton County District Attorney Tracy Graham Lawson on Dec. 31, two days after Turner was removed as police chief.
In a letter written on Dec. 31, Lawson told Cohilas she had enough information to investigate Turner, a 22-year veteran of the police department.
"Based on the information provides in those memorandums and affidavits, I find that they form the factual basis to request an investigation be conducted to determine if Turner violated the criminal laws of the State of Georgia, " Lawson wrote.
In the letter, Lawson said she would investigate whether Turner stole or changed public documents and tampered with evidence. In addition, Lawson said she may look into whether Turner broke eavesdropping and surveillance laws, the letter says.
Lawson's staff already has taken evidence from the Clayton police department that may help in the investigation, the letter says.
However, Lawson also wrote Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker on Tuesday and asked that a special prosecutor be assigned to investigate the case instead.
Turner referred all questions to his attorney and spoke only from a written statement.
"It was abundantly clear that this is a personal attack on my character, and I welcome any investigation, especially by the attorney general's office, and I am sure that at the end of the investigation that I will be vindicated," he said.
His attorney did not immediately return phone calls.
The commission had compiled a list of a dozen allegations against the way Turner has run the department. Some of the allegations included insubordination, mishandling of sexual harassment complaints against officers, a rash of high-speed chases that resulted in civilian deaths, 138 unaccounted-for firearms and a chaotic evidence room.
"The allegations presented to the Board of Commissioners on Tuesday evening are very serious," Clayton Board Chairman Eldrin Bell said in a statement. "However, it is imperative that we allow the process to work."
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