The Oglethorpe Echo
Sheriff David Gabriel said he plans to continue the momentum he’s built heading into his third term.
“A lot of it is just maintaining what we’ve gained,” he said. “We’ve done a good job really changing things and reducing crime and reducing fatalities and accidents.”
Gabriel was first elected in 2016 and reelected in 2020. He then defeated James “Junior” Jackson in the Republican primary for sheriff in May, and will run unopposed in November.
Gabriel said last December, when he announced this year’s campaign, that he plans to run one more time in 2028, and then retire.
Reported vehicle accidents in Oglethorpe County increased in three of Gabriel’s first five years as sheriff, but have since decreased, according to data from the Georgia Department of Transportation.
In 2023, there were 187 reported crashes, the first year that Oglethorpe County had fewer reported crashes than 2017, Gabriel’s first year in office.
This is partly due to speed cameras installed at Oglethorpe County’s two school zones.
“I don’t think we’ve had an accident there in almost three months,” Gabriel said in April. “We were averaging one to two accidents a day there. I mean, it was almost daily we had accidents, it seemed like.”
The GDOT data shows that since Gabriel took office, there have been fewer fatal crashes per year. This includes two years (2017 and 2018) with zero fatal crashes in the county, but also includes the highest single year (11 in 2021) in the data.
Data from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation indicates that crime is down across the county.
In 2016, according to the GBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program, Oglethorpe County experienced 15.1 crimes per 1,000 residents. In 2022, that figure was 11.6, a 23.2% decrease.
“After you’ve gained some success,” Gabriel said, “the plan is to maintain. That’s kind of where we’re at, is trying to do the maintaining of that and make sure we keep things good.”
Gabriel said there is no plan to reopen the Oglethorpe County Jail, which stopped housing inmates in 2022.
“The jail is basically a question of money,” he said. “I did the budget this year and I think it was a $600,000 or $700,000 difference to open the jail back up, which is pretty significant,” he said. “ … About three-quarters of a $1 million is not chump change compared to a $9-million, $10-million overall budget for the county.”