Mayor Davis defends inquiry into security escort, explains concerns for government employees

Mayor Hardie Davis defends inquiry into security escort

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WFXG) - Mayor Hardie Davis wants an updated security assessment of all government buildings.

“In the mayor’s office we now have panic buttons so that we can alert personnel in the event that something happens,” Mayor Davis revealed.

He said that was a direct result of someone coming inside his office on Telfair Street and making a threat.

Email exchanges between the mayor’s staff and the sheriff’s office show several incidents his administration considers concerning. They’ve taken place since he took office in 2015. Including an incident in April of 2018, where a man who is paranoid that people were trying to kill him claimed there was a nuclear bomb buried at a home on Bennock Mill Road. Most recently, he said he was confronted by an irate man at the Bernie Sanders rally.

“Just last year, it’s been brought to our attention that a member at our probation office was shot while there in the offices,” Davis said.

Mayor Davis says one aspect of the conversation he had with the sheriff and marshal on June 3rd is what’s going to be done to ensure the safety of nearly 3,000 government employees.

The marshal says his agency is constantly reviewing ways to keep the people of Augusta safe.

“We’re looking at all our security measures all the time. ..always constantly evaluating. making sure we’re doing what we’re supposed to do. Like I always tell my people, one incident is too many if it happens here in Richmond County," said Marshal Ramone Lamkin.

In regards to the mayor’s own concerns for his safety, no decision was made about a security escort for the mayor.