By Liz Fabian
The Macon Telegraph
MACON, Ga. — When Somali terrorist group al-Shabaab first made headlines, Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills thought he might have been the only local lawman in Georgia familiar with the group.
In 2002, Sills arrested Malachi York, founder of the Nuwabian Nation of Moors, who had ties to the Middle East, he said.
“I knew of some of the earlier Islamic terrorist organizations because of York,” Sills said.
In 2009, York unsuccessfully petitioned to appeal his 2004 child molestation conviction and 135-year sentence on grounds that he was a Liberian diplomat and citizen not under U.S. jurisdiction.
Many of his followers still claim to be “sovereign citizens” not bound by U.S. laws.
“About a year ago, we stopped a guy on the bypass who said he wasn’t subject to the laws and wouldn’t roll down the window,” Sills said.
Deputies took him into custody, said Sills, who has learned to effectively deal with those claiming sovereign citizenship.
What is a bigger and potentially more ominous threat is local recruiting by groups such as Islamic State, also known as ISIS.
“We would definitely need training about that,” he said. “All Georgia law enforcement would.”
Chris Herring, a law enforcement veteran and visiting professor at North Carolina Central University, is the executive director of the Institute for Homeland Security and Workforce Development.
Next month at the Georgia Department of Corrections campus in Forsyth, Herring will be teaching local guards and prison administrators how to intercept radicalization among inmates.
“When you look at jails and prisons, isn’t that a breeding ground for those who have distrust of government?” Herring asked in a phone interview. “How then does an all-American ‘Opie’ or young person become radicalized and willing to join ISIS to be willing to do harm to their own country?”
Herring said there are ways for jail personnel to spot behaviors that raise suspicions.
Many Middle Georgia communities already deal with gangs in their jail population.
Bibb County Sheriff David Davis often isolates rival gang members in the law enforcement center.
Inmates generally don’t spend long stretches of time in local jails, which can curtail full-scale indoctrination, but Davis sees merit in taking a closer look at hate groups and terrorist organizations trying to recruit members behind bars.
“It’s a good idea to start looking at that in county jails,” Davis said. “As that movement and radicalization becomes more widespread, I’m sure it will show up in local county jails.”
The Rural Domestic Preparedness Consortium will provide free training in an eight-hour course Dec. 18 at Roberts Chapel on the former Tift College campus in Forsyth.
Herring will be sharing scenarios that could tip off authorities to sinister plots. Officers will be encouraged to develop plans to report the activity to other agencies and possibly avert an attack.
“Many intelligence agencies had information before 9/11, and that was not the first time the World Trade Center was hit,” Herring said.
The 9/11 hijackers were training in rural communities, not big cities, he said.
It is those local communities that are least likely to have the resources and training needed to counter modern threats.
The course, certified by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, will prepare corrections workers to identify threat group categories, and explore their philosophies and methods in rural settings.
Participants must register at www.ruraltraining.org by Dec. 4.