New Georgiana Police Chief Shares Plans for City

Chief Carlton Cook speaks with a city resident.

The city of Georgiana once again has a police chief. In October of 2016, former Georgiana Chief David Scruggs resigned. The new chief is Butler County native Carlton Cook.

“I grew up in Greenville, small place called Pigeon Creek, it’s in Butler County.” Cook says. “I attended Greenville High School, graduated 1990. And one of my high school goals, throughout my school year was to be a police officer.”

Cook started his career at the age of 19 with the Montgomery Police Department. He worked his way through the ranks, becoming a Major with MPD, before retiring. Twenty-five years after starting in law enforcement, Cook is now leading the force in Georgiana.

Cook is also making history; he’s the first African American police chief for the city. It’s something Mayor Jerome Antone says will inspire a lot of people in the city.

“It does give, small black boys and black girls the opportunity to let them know that, hey, it’s not where you’re from, it’s where you’re going. So if you work hard, you can get to that, get there,” Antone says.

Cook is hoping to connect with the community in several ways, by visiting nursing homes and the school, attending several church services in the community, and being available to residents.

“I get that information first hand from the community,” Cooks says. “And then I can come back to the agency here and sit down with my guys and say, ‘Hey, we need to work on our business checks. We need to be seen at this business more often.’ So therefore it’ll service them, but it’ll help us as well.”

Cook also plans on bringing new organizations into the city, including resources for residents struggling with addiction. He also has started plans to bring a branch of the Red Cross into the city.