May 21 is an important date for Fulton County residents as they set out to vote for their county sheriff candidate. James “JT” Brown is one of those candidates. He has 37 years of experience as a law enforcement and security professional. Brown, along with his wife, Monisha, is spreading his vision as sheriff and what he plans to change if he is elected.
How supportive has your wife been during your campaign?
JT Brown: The Browns have been doing community service before we started this initiative. We feed the homeless, we visit the sick, and my son and I have been volunteers in the hospice hospital for over 15 years. I’m going to let my wife tell you about what she does with her organizations.
Monisha Brown: One of the things that is close to my heart obviously are women’s issues, economic issues, and empowerment issues. My charity of choice, I took over the late Jovita Moore’s initiative at Our House Atlanta, which is a family shelter, but when you have around 13 adults and roughly 50 or plus children, you can very easily call it a children’s shelter. I’ve been their volunteer of the year for two years in a row now and that’s just because my heart just really beats for all things dealing with women and children.
There have been three deaths in the Fulton County jail this year. What should people know about your initiative to address that?
JB: I’m going to fix that. Negligent deaths, we’re not going to tolerate that because it’s accountability, and it starts with the leadership. I tell people I’m a transformational leader and that means I’m going to transform the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office to what I call a positive change. We’re going to be accountable for everybody coming into that facility because deputy sheriffs, we’re caretakers. If you don’t have the mentality to be a caretaker as a deputy, I don’t need your board. That’s what I’m bringing, transformational leadership, and I’m giving the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office a vision to be the number one sheriff’s office in the country.
How important is the young generation to your campaign?
JB: That’s where it’s going to start. We’re going to be proactive with our young adults. I want to see every person, like my son, be able to have a choice to go to school, whether it be a vocational school, a university, a junior college, or even just going to the military, but I want them to have that opportunity where they won’t be stopped because they didn’t have the resources. What I’m going to implement at the sheriff’s office with that budget is to have a crisis intervention center in north, east, south, and west Fulton County, and one of the services is going to be a literacy program for the youth so they can come there and enhance their reading skills, come here and get mentored and learn how to write. This is one of the initiatives I’m going to have there for the youth and I’ll also have a work-study program for them so employees can come and hire the teenagers coming out of that crisis intervention center.
Where should we expect to see you in the next couple of days?
JB: You’re going to be seeing us out there on the street going door-to-door. You’re going to see my face. My truck says “Fighting for Fulton” and I’m the one that started that slogan. No other candidate can take that credit. My number is 404-484-2065 and I’m giving you the opportunity to call me if you have something you’d like to talk about dealing with law enforcement.
