According to multiple sources, probably not.
On September 15, the City of Sugar Hill began using Insight Protection Services (IPS) to conduct patrols after Plaza Security gave a 30-day notice and terminated their contract with the City.
I asked City Manager Paul Radford about the change via email. I was curious if the job was put up for bid. He told me that the City reached out to several security firms, but that IPS was the only one that responded.
I asked what qualification they brought to the table that Plaza Security did not. It seems IPS's main qualification was that...they responded.
On October 8, a resident brought to my attention some concerning information about the owner of Insight Protection Services, Jefrey Scott Schulz. I did some additional digging to find out more. It wasn't that hard for me to find information, because several local reporters (AJC, Fox5Atlanta, and WSB) and Real World Police, an investigative news organization, had already put considerable time into researching the story and providing documentation.
In March 2017, Schulz was spotted by Corporal Lowe of the Doraville Police Department speeding past a stopped school bus that was letting children off on Buford Highway in Chamblee. He asked for "courtesy", meaning not to be given a ticket. He first claimed he didn't SEE the school bus he had passed. He then tried to lead the officer to believe he was an officer himself, but repeatedly refused to indicate what agency he was with. When Corporal Lowe returns to give him the ticket, he is standing beside his car. He accuses Corporal Lowe of not treating him well, and actually says, "dude, be a nice guy", apparently still wanting not to get a ticket. Corporal Lowe offers to let him speak to his supervisor.
Schultz still insists he did not see the bus, so Corporal Lowe tells him he is welcome to come down anytime and see it. Schultz wants to see it right then. Corporal Lowe tells him he needs another unit there for that to capture all the video. It seems like he had already called for his supervisor. When the supervisor gets there, Schultz persists with the story that he didn't see the bus, even after they show him the video and explain it to him. He still says he is a police officer and repeatedly claims he can't say who he is working for. The second officer tells Schultz that he can simply present his law enforcement ID, which he tells them he does not have with him. He does tell them that he has his POST Certification to show them. Corporal Lowe tells him he still needs to know who he's with, because anyone could have had a POST Certification and have lost their job. Although that was actually the case with Schultz, he tells them that he hasn't lost a job. He again says he's being treated poorly and mentions that he has "got people in the business that are very high-ranking, put it that way".
The entire exchange is indeed cringe-worthy, as Real World Police indicates in the title of the video. Schultz's behavior was not what you would expect of a professional police officer. He was argumentative, and his behavior was unusual in a way that seemed intended to be intimidating. There were times he did things that I can easily see as being physically threatening to an officer, such as exiting his vehicle without being asked. He does not indicate to Corporal Lowe whether he is armed or not until specifically asked. He takes what probably would have been a rather short traffic stop and extends it because he chooses to try to argue his way out of a ticket aggressively. And apparently, he has no consideration of his girlfriend, who is in the car and supposedly had just had a tooth pulled (one of his excuses for not seeing the bus).
You can see the exchange for yourself in the video from the officers' body cameras.
The story does not end there.
Corporal Lowe turned everything over to his Captain, figuring that Schlutz might file a complaint. The Captain looked into it, had a POST-instructor look into it, and told Corporal Lowe to sign the warrants.
The next day, Schultz was arrested at his home in Cobb County for impersonating an officer, a felony in Georgia. In the body camera footage from the arrest, you can see an IPS vehicle in Schultz's driveway. He is argumentative with Corporal Lowe and asks him to do things outside the policies, like escorting him into the house to talk with his fiancee and adjusting his cuffs once they are on and locked down. Corporal Lowe has to ask him multiple times to get in the car, which he only finally does once approached and asked yet again by a Sheriff's Deputy.
Schultz entered into a plea agreement and pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge of passing a school bus, and the felony charge of impersonating a police officer was nolle prossed. He was sentenced to 80 hours of community service, fined $500, and given 12 months probation.
Schultz was found to be POST-certified at the time, although he was not working for any law enforcement agency. His most recent police job? A position at the Hapeville Police Department from which he had been fired in 2007.
Real World Police, an independent journalism outlet, has been investigating Schultz and acquired documents that detail the Hapeville Police Department's issues with Schultz before his termination.
In March 2007, supervisors documented conducting a counseling session with Schultz regarding insubordination.
On May 8, 2007, the Hapeville Police Department documented an episode in which they state that Schultz knowingly bypassed an inline supervisor in an attempt to circumvent a direct order, and argumentatively asked for justification for a legal order given by two supervisors.
In June 2007, supervisors counseled him on the issue of conducting personal business while on duty. They had received a complaint from a former employee of his security company that he was working with his security company at the InCity Suites while working as a Hapeville Police Officer. InCity Suites later terminated his employment with them.
In July 2007, he was relieved of duty with pay after he showed signs of instability. A supervisor told him to go home and study his SOP to reflect on how to communicate with others and review sections of the SOP that authorize him to make decisions as a Hapeville Police Officer without continuously calling a supervisor over the radio to make the decision for him.
In August 2007, the Hapeville Police Department received a complaint about Schultz from a local business owner who suggested he was abusing his police authority and made a false arrest in retaliation for the business terminating his employment.
On August 29, 207, there was an incident recounted by the Hapeville Chief of Police in which Schultz and another officer had made disparaging comments about supervisors in a meeting. The supervisors summoned each officer individually for private meetings to have them explain what they meant. During Schultz's meeting, the supervisors stated that he tried to change the direction of the conversation by eluding direct questions. They state that he was argumentative and used profane language toward them.
It appears his employment with the Hapeville Police Department was terminated after this incident.
Schultz tried to get unemployment benefits from the Department of Labor, who appears to have denied them. He filed an appeal, and the Hapeville Chief of Police wrote a letter documenting the problems they had with him and why he decided to terminate his employment with them. The Department of Labor states that he was fired for legitimate reasons, and declined his appeal.
Before his employment with Hapeville PD, Schultz appears to have a spotty record of multiple stints with different agencies ranging from about 5 months to about 3 and a half years. When Real World Police acquired his POST record, it showed the following positions.
The arrest video above shows excerpts from the many documents that Real World Police acquired while investigating Jefrey Schultz. You can also see more on their profile at Patreon. I have included copies of some of the Hapeville documents at the bottom of this blog post.
In June 2021, Real World Police released another video that includes Schultz's trip to jail in the back of the police car, in which he again harangues Corporal Lowe. The first part of this video is a recap of the first two videos. The new footage begins at about 8:15. While the conversation is heard, the video shows snippets of different documents related to Schultz's history, including incidents reported at his time with Holly Springs. There were also some reports of harassment made by female citizens. At 29:30, they arrive at the Doraville jail.
At 33:03, the video again shows documents uncovered by Real World Police, including the record of a couple of lawsuits filed by Schultz, one against the City of Holly Springs and another against the City of Hapeville, whose police departments had fired him. It also shows the DeKalb County Grand Jury indictment against him for impersonating a police officer in 2017. There is also some documentation from the Georgia POST Council regarding some of his issues. I can't tell for sure if he ever had his certification revoked or not, but there were at least a couple of instances in which it appears that there was a recommendation that it be revoked.
In his law enforcement career, citizens, law enforcement officers, and even some elected officials had documented issues they had seen. A lot of the documentation points to argumentative and uncooperative behavior, and it's clear that he has no respect for someone with a badge. As such, I have concerns about how he would treat a member of the public.
Schultz appears to currently be engaged in a lawsuit against Corporal Lowe, alleging wrongful arrest, and that the news of his arrest, especially the body camera footage, has hurt his reputation and his business. Body camera footage is obtainable by Open Records Requests in most cases, though. As far as I know, WSB obtained the footage of the traffic stop.
Doraville PD is standing by Corporal Lowe.
People get pulled over. People get tickets. But, driving past a stopped school bus is a serious traffic offense. Asking not to be given a ticket as a "courtesy" is inappropriate in this case, even if someone were a law enforcement officer. Argumentatively demanding it and refusing to state which law enforcement agency you work for is unprofessional if you are in law enforcement. And, it's stupid if you are not with a law enforcement agency and haven't been with one since you were fired from one ten years ago.
Suing a "fellow officer" for doing his job when you created the situation with your bad behavior is even worse. As Corporal Lowe said when he pulled him over, Schultz's attitude was the problem.
This attitude is a massive potential problem for Sugar Hill in terms of public safety and potential legal issues. While the City only has a contract with Insight for 6 months, a lot of things can happen in 6 months.
Around the time Insight was hired, I saw a person in an Insight uniform at City Hall. I didn't know who he was at the time, but after seeing the pictures, I believe it was Jefrey Schultz. So while he owns the company, I also believe he will be one of the individuals on patrol. Even if he were not, a person who seems to have problems policing his own behavior can't be adequately trusted to manage employee behavior or police the public.
The City of Sugar Hill needs to address this situation promptly if they want to maintain any semblance of trust with the public regarding their handling of law enforcement.
