By Joe Johnson
Three officers have been promoted to the rank of deputy police chief, Athens-Clarke County Chief of Police Cleveland Spruill announced Monday morning.
The new deputy chiefs have a combined seven decades of experience with the ACCPD and have each spent many years in command positions.
Jeff Clark and Mike Hunsinger were interim deputy chiefs when Spruill assumed command of the police department in early February and Jerry Saulters was captain and commanding officer of the Criminal Investigations Bureau.
“The deputy chief position requires an individual to possess an extensive law enforcement background, excellent communications skills, and a deep knowledge of the agency,” Spruill said in a prepared statement. “Their combined 73 years of experience will be a great asset.”
Clark began his law enforcement career at the ACCPD in 1997. In his 21 years at the ACCPD, Clark served as a sergeant and lieutenant in both the Uniform Patrol and Criminal Investigations bureaus. Clark is a veteran of the U.S. Army, a graduate of the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police Command College, and of Columbus State University with a master’s degree in Public Administration.
Hunsinger has more than 32 years of law enforcement experience, beginning with his service at the University of Georgia Police Department in 1987. Hunsinger joined the ACCPD as a patrol officer in 1988 and has risen through the ranks and served in all bureaus within the agency. Hunsinger received a Criminal Justice Undergraduate degree from the University of Georgia, a master’s degree in Public Administration from Columbus State University and is a graduate of the FBI National Academy.
For several years Hunsinger was a lieutenant in charge of the ACCPD’s Drug and Regional Drug Task Force Unit and later helped to create the Northeast Georgia, serving several years as its commanding officer.
Saulters is a 20-year veteran with the ACCPD. He began his career in 1998 after serving in the United States Army for seven years. Saulters began as a patrol officer and in 2005 was assigned to the Criminal Investigations Bureau’s Robbery/Homicide Unit. In 2007 he was promoted to sergeant in that bureau.
In 2012 Saulters was promoted to lieutenant and transferred to the Uniform Patrol Bureau where he served as a shift command. Saulters in 2014 graduated from the Southern Police Institute from the University of Louisville. Saulters was promoted to the rank of Captain in 2016 and since that time has been serving as the Bureau Commander for Criminal Investigations.
In 2014 Saulters graduated from the from the University of Louisville’s Southern Police Institute. Prior to his promotion to deputy chief he was a captain and commanding officer of the Criminal Investigations Bureau.