Richmond Hill Police Chief Mitch Shores said Wednesday he was the one who requested the Georgia Bureau of Investigation look into unspecified internal matters in the department following the resignation of two officers and retirement of another.
But Shores stressed he believes the issues that prompted him to call in the GBI were internal rather than criminal, and he brought in the outside agency to make sure the department was “above reproach.”
The three officers, Maj. Mike Albritton, Detective Doug Sahlberg and Sgt. Luke Harris, left the department Feb. 16.
Albritton retired, the other two officers resigned.
Shores said he went to the GBI that day after conducting his own investigation, confident there was no criminal wrongdoing.
Shores said the GBI has so far backed that up and has found nothing “crimi

nally actionable,” and he does not expect charges to be filed.
The GBI began looking into the issues raised by Shores on Feb. 17, he said.
Shores was sworn in as the city’s chief of police on Dec. 1. He replaced longtime chief Billy Reynolds, who retired and is now probate judge of Bryan County.
Reynolds had no comment on the resignations or Shores’ request that the GBI look into the matter.
The GBI has not announced its findings yet.
Shores said he did not want to discuss the three officers, but said he is asking the city manager to begin taking steps to hire replacements.
Sahlberg is a defendant, along with the city of Richmond Hill, in a suit filed by the mother of a 14-year-old who committed suicide six years ago. That case was recently argued before the Georgia Supreme Court, which has not issued a decision.