Details of the disagreement between Mayor Keith Gaskin and Police Chief Fred Shelton over creating a city marshal position continue to surface, including vastly different accounts of conversations the two men had on the subject and Shelton’s doubts over who Gaskin wants to tap for the job.

Multiple city officials confirmed to The Dispatch off the record that Gaskin put forward police officer Johnny “Max” Branch for city marshal. That position, Gaskin said, would work autonomously, not as a member of the police department, and would report directly to the mayor. The job would focus on investigating violent crime and would pay a rate equivalent to a CPD sergeant — $19.78 per hour, roughly $47,000 per year based on 40-hour work weeks. The person would also be deputized by Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office.

Branch was among the officers who responded to the October 2015 incident where former officer Canyon Boykin fatally wounded Ricky Ball after Ball ran from a traffic stop. Branch was among officers who did not activate his body camera during the incident. In April 2020, when Branch was a sheriff’s deputy, he was involved in an altercation on Fifth Street with a restaurant owner while off duty that was caught on a city surveillance camera. Branch resigned from LCSO after the incident and soon returned to CPD.

The city council debated in open session of its meeting Tuesday whether to even create the position but did not vote. In executive session, during which Gaskin presented Branch as the candidate, the council tabled the matter for further discussion.

During a press conference Wednesday at City Hall, Gaskin acknowledged it’s “very likely we won’t do it.”

“We didn’t talk about it that long in executive session,” he said.

Shelton advised the marshal position would “kill morale” at CPD and urged the mayor and council Tuesday to increase officer pay to help boost manpower in his department — CPD has only 48 officers of a budgeted 64. On Wednesday, he told The Dispatch having an autonomous marshal working adjacent to his officers would confuse chain of command and investigative protocol.

“Officers need a clear line of chain of command,” Shelton said.

Further, while Shelton declined to confirm Branch as the candidate, he did confirm it was a CPD patrolman with no investigative training — in contrast to his seven-officer investigative unit. The marshal would also receive a pay rate that the candidate has not completed the exams to achieve, something required for CPD officers to attain the rank of sergeant.

Shelton told The Dispatch that when he and Gaskin first discussed creating a marshal position on Friday, he expressed serious concerns. He said he also suggested to Gaskin another person for the job.

While Shelton said he thought he would have an opportunity to review a letter City Attorney Jeff Turnage sent to the council outlining the job description and candidate, he told The Dispatch he didn’t see any details until Gaskin posted the proposal (which did not include the candidate’s name) on the city’s Facebook page at noon Tuesday.

“I was supposed to see what they sent to the council and be able to offer feedback,” Shelton said. “I wasn’t afforded that opportunity.”

In Wednesday’s press conference, Gaskin offered a different version of his conversations with Shelton, emphasizing he believed the city marshal idea had Shelton’s support. He said he was “shocked” by Shelton’s presentation to the council on Tuesday, especially since Gaskin said he asked Shelton to call him if any other concerns arose.

“Obviously, he talked to somebody but not me,” Gaskin said. “… I’m not angry at him in any way. It’s not going to affect our relationship at all. But his presentation (Tuesday) night was a 360 (sic) from the conversation we had earlier.”

Relationship with CPD
Gaskin on Wednesday continued to defend creating a city marshal post. While he recognizes CPD needs better pay and more manpower, he couched those as “big issues” that take “big money.” The marshal, he said, is something that can be done quickly at a lower cost.

“The intent of a city marshal was not to do anything to cause problems within the police department but to enhance the police department and to enhance our relationship with the sheriff’s department,” Gaskin said. “But most importantly, (it was) to have somebody to focus on the serious crimes we’re facing, the violent crimes.

“This is not an attack on (the police officers) in any way or what they’re doing,” he added. “There are very few people who would be willing to sacrifice the way our police force does. It is obviously a very underpaid and thankless job in many ways. However, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t always be looking at every way to help them do their jobs better.”

Ward 4 Councilman Pierre Beard at Wednesday’s press conference pressed Gaskin on the chain of command point, asking specifically how one person could take the lead on all violent crime investigations in the city and how that person’s relationship would play out with CPD investigators.

“It’s a big contradiction to what’s already in place,” Beard said. “… The duties you want to give to this individual are essentially … duties people within the police department already have.”

Beard also asked if deputizing a marshal would confuse the roles and relations between CPD and LCSO.

Gaskin pushed back.

“Is it going to walk in and be perfect? No. But obviously what we’re doing right now isn’t working,” Gaskin said. “… Crime isn’t going down. People aren’t giving us information. People aren’t going to jail. All I’m asking is to try something a little different.

“… I don’t think it’s a secret that the police department and the sheriff’s department don’t always work well together,” he later added. “I think now we have a policy where our police officers have to call for backup and they need it from the sheriff’s department, before they can do it the captains have to call the police chief, wake him up, and say, ‘Do you want to call the sheriff’s department for backup?’ That’s not real popular with the police officers because sometimes they feel like they need someone faster.”

Speaking with The Dispatch, Shelton noted his seven investigators are currently splitting 678 felony cases, “a big chunk” of which are violent crimes.
Further, he said his officers are not required to “call and wake him up” to coordinate with the sheriff’s office.

“The perceived conflict (with LCSO), I don’t see it,” he said.

Still, Shelton said the marshal issue has not affected his relationship with Gaskin, though when asked, he declined to characterize that relationship as “good.”

“We have a relationship,” he said. “He’s my supervisor and I will work with him as professionally as possible. We both want what’s best for the citizens of Columbus. He and I may have different ways of looking at that sometimes.”

Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.