By Josh Troy
Clarksdale Advocate
Coahoma County Sheriff Charles Jones spoke out against Facebook posts circulating throughout the community that he claimed were false.
Jones did not specify what the posts were, but he alleged that local individuals were making false reports targeted at him on Thursday. He said he believed the posts were made because he is running for re-election.
“Yesterday, there were some reports that were put on Facebook that were completely false,” he said. “We just want to make sure that the citizens, the law-abiding citizens, the family, friends, and supporters stay positive. Don’t allow this negativity to manifest and get to a point where it has everyone entertaining that kind of behavior.” Jones said false reports on social media occur frequently.
“We do fact checks,” he said. “Law enforcement officers, we’re trained to give the facts. When you’re talking about law enforcement, we don’t go on hearsay. We do fact checks. You often get something on social media, and it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s true.”
Jones has been the Sheriff since 2009 and talked about his record.
“My record speaks for itself,” he said. “Sometimes, your opponents, if they don’t have anything to run on, they’re basically going to talk about me or try to discredit me, which is not going to happen. It’s not happening. We do things the right way over here. If someone does something wrong, if an employee does something wrong in the Sheriff’s Office, we deal with it. We have a reputation for dealing with employees who don’t do their job or who violate policy.”
Jones said anyone may call his cell phone at (662) 645-5931 if there are any rumors that need to be clarified.
“We’re transparent,” he said. “I would tell anyone if they hear something on the streets or a rumor and they wanted to check the facts, they can ask me. I’m OK with someone calling me if they see something on Facebook or they see something that doesn’t sound right or look right. You can call my cell phone.”
Jones said the Sheriff’s Office only makes arrests based on who committed a particular crime.
“We do our job all year long, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year,” he said. “That doesn’t change. If someone’s a victim and they know who committed the crime, it’s our job and our duty to arrest that person, to make an arrest.”
Jones claimed rumors and lies were coming from former Coahoma County Sheriff’s Office employees.
“We have a standard of excellence. We want to be the best that we can be,” he said. “Sometimes, we let people off the bus. We have to let folks off the bus, people that don’t want to do what they’re supposed to do, do right, and follow policy.”
Jones said he gives employees several chances, coaches, and mentors them, but they will eventually be terminated if they do not improve. He added that any employee may file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
“Any employer that treats his employees wrong or does something that’s not within the guidelines of the law, you can go and file a complaint with the EEOC,” he said. “Why haven’t any of them filed a complaint with the EEOC? Where is anything documented that somebody did wrong? But I have facts. I have the facts to show that nobody did anything to them. They had several chances to get it right and they didn’t.”
Jones encouraged the community to be positive.
“I want the citizens to stay focused, stay on task, block out all this negativity, and focus on the task at hand,” he said. “Just concentrate on moving this community forward in the Sheriff’s Office, as we have been doing.”
