Peyton Jenkins
Why it’s newsworthy: Sheriff Williams is the new sheriff after 20 years of leadership under Edwards. He has been involved in the Athens community for more than two decades and has new plans and policies he hopes will change the way the office is being run.
John Q. Williams’ aspiration as a child was to play a sheriff on a detective show like “A Man Called Hawk” rather than actually being elected as one.
“I wanted to be a star,” Williams said.
Instead of seeking stardom in the eyes of Hollywood, Williams chose to be a star in his community. He always desired hometown glory and recognition just like an actor from his hometown; Avery Brooks. Williams found his passion for his community and realized his place as a sheriff gave him a new version of stardom.
Having never run for any political position in his life, Williams won in November and was acting sheriff on January 1. He won by 51% of the 19,000 votes cast in the Democratic primary against the former sheriff according to the election summary report.
He went on to win the election with 34,920 votes. Though recalled as an upset against the previous Sheriff, Ira Edwards, Williams was confident he would win and that he had the support of his community behind him. He said there was no accountability under the former sheriff, and there was a culture of fear.
Dantrel Robinson, William’s childhood friend who now resides in Alabama, said via email that he was not surprised in the slightest at the results.
“I wasn’t shocked,” Robinson said. “He ran a consistent, clean campaign that focused on the people rather than the incumbent.”
Williams won because he has been a prominent member of Clarke County for over 20 years. A pillar of the community is how Williams is described, and it starts with the kids. This past Easter, he visited a local Target and community centers donning a bunny costume to bring smiles to children’s faces.
“Williams understands the challenges and strengths of the community he serves, and it starts with the children,” Robinson said.
One of his most important roles was as supervisor and instructor for the ACCPD Career Development and Training Unit.
One of his slogans for his training is, “you can’t just arrest your way out of problems.” Williams has made it his mission as sheriff and trainer to teach police officers to try to find a better way to handle things other than just straight by the book.
One of the most important plans Williams has is getting the inmates vaccinated. The sheriff’s office worked out a partnership to help give inmates who want a COVID-19 vaccine the single-shot Johnson & Johnson dose. He said ⅓ of the inmates surveyed said they want it and it is to begin this week.
Growing up in Gary, Indiana, Williams did not have a good relationship with authority. As a Black youth during the late 60s and early 70s, he felt prejudice against him from police to community members.
Robinson said how the two were treated even when attending a school competition for speeches.
“Northwest Indiana was known for being one of the most racially divided areas in our country,” Robinson said. “It lurked under a veneer of passive aggressive and blatant prejudice.”
Robinson said Williams always kept his cool and encouraged the other kids to represent their city and school and not “fight fire with fire.”
Williams has taken what he experienced in his youth and used it for good. He said that he does not want anyone to receive the treatment he was given. Being a police officer you do have to make tough decisions and you have to hurt people, but it should not be on the basis of race or prejudice.
The training begins with emotional intelligence. Williams says that all people are reactive in situations and he tries to teach officers to take a moment and think about what they are doing.
“Ultimately, the decision that you make should be steeped in how you want to be remembered,” Williams said. “Sometimes when you take a moment, and you brief, you can overcome.”
Williams has tried to form relationships between different departments and work together; something he and other officers did not see under the former sheriff of 20 years.
“There’s a lot of interactions between the sheriff’s office and the police department and the UGA police,” Williams said. “I’ve just seen over the years that the relationship that should be there is not there.”
He has focused on bridging these relationships and has an open door policy for both the community and all of the agencies to speak out and communicate to work together.
How I wrote this story: I reached out to the new sheriff to learn about his new policy plans and ended up speaking with him for over an hour. I wrote the profile on him and incorporated many elements of his personality as well as his policies in while keeping the story interesting. I gained valuable skills in my profile writing and my ability to find a message among an hour and a half of recorded conversation.
Peyton Jenkins 