Crime & Safety

GBI Veteran Tapped as an Assistant ACC Police Chief

Fred Stephens joins the force of Athens' finest.

 

ACC Police Chief Joseph Lumpkin has named Fred E. Stephens an Assistant Chief of Police. Stephens will command the Operations Support Bureau. This includes the Centralized Criminal Investigation Division, the 911 Communications Division, the Information Management Division, the Drug Task Force, and the Career Development Unit. He will start his job in May 2012.

A native of Stone Mountain, is a 31-year veteran of the GBI, serving 21 of those years in management. He was a narcotics  
 agent, conducting statewide undercover drug investigations, Stephens worked on federal drug investigations from the Albany, Georgia GBI Regional Drug Enforcement Office, focusing on major drug trafficking organizations and on general field investigations. Later, he directed the Savannah GBI office’s drug enforcement office, where he investigated corrupt public officials suspected of protecting drug traffickers and commercial gambling activities in two South Georgia counties.

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Stephens created the multi-agency Governor’s Flood Fraud Task Force to address fraud in southwest Georgia by unscrupulous building contractors and con artists after the 1994 devastating flood.

During the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games, he served as the assistant venue commander in Athens, working closely with both the ACC and UGA police departments to plan security at Stegeman Coliseum and McWhorter Hall.

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Five years later, he was promoted to the rank of Special Agent in Charge and returned to Athens as the head of the GBI’s Regional Field Office, where he worked closely with the Athens-Clarke County Police Department and the criminal justice community.

In April of 2007, he was promoted to the rank of Inspector. Stephens has also worked on security and counter terrorism planning. He studied with the Israeli National Police as a member of the Georgia International Law Enforcement Delegation in 2008.

"We in the Athens-Clarke County Police Department are certainly fortunate to have GBI Inspector Fred Stephens agree to become an Assistant Chief of Police," said Chief Lumpkin. "Having commanded the GBI Regional Office in Athens for a number of years, Fred Stephens understands Athens-Clarke County's particulars. He is truly a leader of the 21st century with remarkable competence and character."

 Stephens graduated from Newberry College with a B.A. in criminal J]justice / sociology. He earned a Master's in Public Administration from Columbus State University.

 

He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy, the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police Command College, and Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange.


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