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Manager Blaine Williams Appoints Cleveland Spruill, Sr. as New Athens-Clarke County Police Chief

Athens-Clarke County Police Department

Athens has a new Police Chief. County Manager Blaine Williams has appointed Cleveland Lee Spruill Sr. as the head of the ACCPD. He will begin his duties on February 4th.

Spruill comes to the Classic City from Huntersville North Carolina, where he was Chief of Police from May 2014 until January 2019.

In his position, he led the 111 member (102 sworn and 9 civilian) Huntersville Police Department in a town with a population of 60,000 and an annual police budget exceeding $12.8 million.

He has 31 years experience in law enforcement.

As part of the process of selecting a new Police Chief, Williams collected public input from residents, as well as current and past police officers. Residents submitted over 150 online form submissions and voicemails, while a panel of Police Department Command Staff also provided feedback and recommendations.

Chief Spruill is a graduate of the 217th Session of the FBI National Academy in 2004 and completed the Police Executive Research Forum Senior Management Institute for Police in 2012. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master’s degree, both in Business Management, from Johns Hopkins University.

Spruill is a member of the Police Executive Research Forum, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, and the North Carolina Association of Chiefs of Police.