Retired Police Chief Gary Yandura
ENDORSEMENTS
"During my 48 years of law enforcement experience, of which 24 years allowed me to serve as a Chief in four Georgia municipalities, none could compare to the success in starting a brand-new agency in Brookhaven Georgia. This unique opportunity was started in 2013 ending in my retirement in January of 2023. During this entire time, the department became very engaged with the residents and was able to successfully grow to be a premier law enforcement agency in the State of Georgia.
This recognition was only possible through the support of Brookhaven’s leadership team which included the many new program approvals of the City Council. One of our great supporters was Councilwoman Linley Jones, who was first elected by the City Council to represent District 1 in June 2015 to complete the unfinished term of the late Rebecca Chase Williams when she became Mayor. In November 2015, Councilwoman Jones was elected to represent District 1 in the general election, and re-elected without opposition in November 2019.
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Councilwoman Jones could always be counted on to support new technology and other initiations of the police department, making Brookhaven a showplace both locally and internationally. Her approval and participation in enabling the department to initiate a new Drone Response program allowed Brookhaven to be a showplace throughout our country being one of two law enforcement agencies providing this service which had many success stories regarding the safety of our residents and officers. This success has led to requests from many other U.S. police departments as well as other countries which included Germany, Norway, Israel and the United Kingdom to name a few.
Other initiatives endorsed by Councilwoman Jones included our successful Mental Health Co-Responder program, Live 911 and our city-wide License Plate Reader (LPR) program which has allowed the department to recover many stolen autos with arrests while also locating wanted people involved in serious crimes throughout our area as well as the country.
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Much of Councilwoman Jones support and legal expertise can be attributed to her success as an attorney since 1992 where she also served as President of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association and frequently named one of the Top 100 Super Lawyers in Georgia.
Councilwoman Jones has also been very community involved having many gatherings to hear citizen concerns and working with the various departments to address these concerns. In the last few years Brookhaven, as well as most other law enforcement agencies throughout the country have had difficulty in the hiring and retention of police officers. Councilwoman Jones was very instrumental in approving the benefits and salaries to maintain the needed positions in Brookhaven. Her efforts could be summed up in one comment I remember her saying during a Council Meeting that “the most important asset of our city were the employees.” She has maintained this posture throughout her tenure which has been appreciated by the entire workforce.
Finally, ten years after incorporation, Brookhaven residents have much to be thankful for as we enjoy a high quality of life, excellent, and responsive police services, and many other opportunities affording us to be a vibrant community. I can say this as a retired member of the city workforce, but more importantly now, as a resident of the city with my wife Lynne and our two Golden Retrievers Monroe and Cooper."
Tom Reilly
Being a former Vietnam combat soldier, a long-standing activist for the National Wildlife Federation, and the namesake for the Tom Reilly Green Space I am well acquainted with the concept of servant leadership. During the nineteen years of our friendship, it has been my privilege to regard Linley Jones as a valued partner in our striving to make the world a better place.
We first met when Linley was one of my Sunday School students at Saint Martin’s Episcopal Church. We both helped found the City of Brookhaven, Georgia. I have followed Linley’s personal, professional, and political career with increasing respect and admiration. It isn’t every day that we have one of the nation’s top 100 trial lawyers working on our City Council!! She has ambition, charisma, compassion. WE NEED LINLEY JONES!!