Richard “ Dick ” Carothers is the General Counsel for the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police . A graduate of Emory University School of Law , he has practiced local government law in Georgia for 40 years . He served as an Assistant City Attorney for the City of Atlanta , as County Attorney for Gwinnett County , and has been City Attorney for a number of cities over the years . He is a member of the Georgia and Ohio Bar Associations .
Dick also serves as insurance defense counsel for cities and counties including their officers and employees throughout Georgia in state and federal courts . His firm is currently defending cases representing numerous law enforcement officers and first responders . He is admitted to practice in all Georgia appellate courts , the Northern and Middle District federal courts , the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals , and in the United States Supreme Court . Dick has represented a Georgia city in a case and argued before the Supreme Court .
Dick is the Past President of the Local Government Section of the State Bar of Georgia and serves as a Special Assistant Attorney General for the Georgia Department of Transportation . His firm , Carothers & Mitchell , is located in Buford , Georgia .
Between 2015 and 2018 , it has been reported that approximately 1,000 people in the United States were fatally shot each year by police officers during that time , and people with mental illness were involved in approximately 25 % of those fatalities . It also has been estimated that a third of 911 calls involve mental illness .
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