Doug Sahlberg outlines run for Bryan Co. sheriff

BRYAN COUNTY, Ga. (WTOC) - Former Richmond Hill police officer Doug Sahlberg told WTOC his career in law enforcement prepared him to be the next sheriff of Bryan County.

Sahlberg wants to build upon what’s already in place with the sheriff’s office. If elected, he plans to increase the amount of advanced training for deputies and put more focus on the opioid problem in the county.

He also wants to bring community and business leaders into the fold to hear what people need and want from the sheriff’s office.

“We want to have that open door, so we know what our community needs," Sahlberg said. "We know how we can help them. And I think working with your community is better policing for everyone.”

Sahlberg said prior stints in leadership positions with fire and police departments prepared him for the demands of this office.

“All of that has given me the tools, I’ll say, for budget, management, personnel issues, things of that nature,” Sahlberg said.

The former detective has deep ties in law enforcement in Bryan County, serving for almost 15 years with Richmond Hill police. However, his time is not without controversy.

In 2011, while a police detective, Sahlberg admitted to showing pictures of a girl who tried to commit suicide to his daughter. The young girl, Sydney Sanders, would later kill herself. The family said Sahlberg’s actions played a direct role in her taking her life.

He acknowledged the lapse in judgment while speaking to WTOC.

“Absolutely. I did make a mistake showing a couple pictures to my daughter. I should not have done that," Sahlberg said. "That being said, there has been a lot of truths and a lot of false put out there, and I think more false information has gone out than truths.”

The family sued in 2014, but the Supreme Court of Georgia ruled against the wrongful death lawsuit in May of 2017, citing Georgia law that doesn’t typically hold third parties responsible for suicides.

“We agree [with a lower court] that ‘Sahlberg’s flagrant violation of RHPD’s policy regarding confidentiality was undoubtedly wrongful and it may indeed have been a factor in Sanders’s tragic decision to take her own life.' However, under longstanding Georgia law, Sanders’s suicide acted as an intervening cause that extinguished any causal connection between Sahlberg’s wrongful conduct and Sanders’s death," the majority wrote in the opinion.

“The Court used a 100 year old precedent to give an officer immunity from a civil suit where they outlined factually that he was at fault," said an attorney for Sanders’s mother.

Sahlberg resigned three months before the Georgia Supreme Court’s decision from the Richmond Hill Police Department. In a letter to the state agency that certifies police officers, the chief said he asked for Sahlberg’s resignation because Sahlberg’s wife’s worked for a bonding company and his daughter was a convicted felon.

Sahlberg’s law enforcement personnel file shows he resigned in lieu of termination, but his law enforcement certification is currently in good standing. WTOC confirmed with the GBI that the state agency has no case file on him.

Sahlberg told WTOC the chief found out about his wife’s job when the chief started working months before Sahlberg’s resignation. Since 2017, Sahlberg has been working private security for a general contracting firm.

The primary election will be held June 9.

Editor’s Note: The Georgia primary is June 9. One of the biggest races in Coastal Georgia is the Bryan County sheriff’s election. The sheriff’s seat hasn’t been open in 26 years since Sheriff Clyde Smith took office in 1994. He is retiring.

There are six candidates in the running. Five of those are on the Republican ticket. One is on the Democrat ticket.

WTOC is profiling each sheriff’s candidate in alphabetical order.

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