By MES Dispatch Staff
The Briefing
- Columbus Police Department Captain Gregory Touchberry was reinstated July 15 after a personnel review board voted unanimously to overturn his termination on insubordination charges.
- Chief Stoney Mathis fired Touchberry in September 2025 for sending an email to senior officials in February 2025 expressing concerns about unintended consequences of a departmental productivity tracking system called Stat Tracker.
- Touchberry’s email raised concerns that the performance tracking system placed pressure on officers to increase monthly statistics through citations and warnings, creating potential civil rights violations.
- Chief Mathis characterized Touchberry’s email as an attempt to rally captains in a “coup” against the Stat Tracker system and stated it should have been directed to him rather than to other captains and the chief deputy.
- The personnel review board found Touchberry’s concerns warranted and his communication appropriate within departmental chain-of-command protocols.
COLUMBUS, GA. — The Columbus Consolidated Government Personnel Review Board reinstated Captain Gregory Touchberry of the Columbus Police Department on July 15 after voting unanimously to overturn his September 2025 termination.
Chief Stoney Mathis had fired Touchberry for insubordination and policy violations after Touchberry sent an email in February 2025 to other captains and Chief Deputy Clyde Dent expressing concerns regarding the Stat Tracker performance system Mathis had implemented.
Touchberry stated during the July 15 board hearing that he and two lieutenants had created a squad composed of highest-producing officers intended to locate illegal weapons, wanted individuals and narcotics. Upon reviewing the squad’s productivity data, Touchberry discovered the officers were primarily generating citations and warnings rather than locating contraband or fugitives.
Touchberry noted that officers were issuing multiple citations—sometimes six or seven—to individual violators during single traffic stops. He expressed concern to the board that officers had adopted the belief that monthly Stat Tracker numbers constituted the primary departmental priority, potentially resulting in violations of citizens’ civil rights.
Touchberry’s February email stated concerns about the Stat Tracker system’s impact and recommended a complete departmental restart of the performance tracking methodology. Mathis had sent his own email five days prior to Touchberry’s message addressing officer behavior involving “stacking tickets”—issuing multiple warnings or citations to the same individual during a single encounter.
Mathis testified that he agreed with the substance of Touchberry’s concerns but objected to the manner in which Touchberry communicated the message. Mathis stated the email was directed to selective captains and the chief deputy rather than to him directly, constituting an attempt to build support for eliminating Stat Tracker without his authorization.
Touchberry testified he sent the email to generate discussion and investigation of potential issues and that his action did not constitute insubordination or an attempt to bypass supervisory authority.
During an August 14, 2025 meeting regarding the email, Mathis stated he believed Touchberry displayed defiant conduct and an uncooperative attitude. Touchberry countered that Mathis’s accusatory opening comments created a defensive posture and characterized the meeting as feeling like an attack.
Board member Antron Murray questioned whether Touchberry’s action of sending concerns to an immediate supervisor rather than directly to Mathis violated the open-door policy or constituted insubordination. Mathis previously had indicated officers should contact their immediate supervisor before escalating concerns to senior leadership.
Murray noted during the hearing that Touchberry had responded to Mathis’s questions during the August meeting, contrary to Mathis’s assertion that Touchberry refused to answer questions. A recording of the meeting was reviewed during the hearing.
Mathis stated he had previously reassigned Touchberry from special operations to patrol due to leadership concerns and that Touchberry’s high performance numbers in patrol had prompted Mathis to request a meeting with other commanders to discuss Touchberry’s methods.
At that meeting, Touchberry had responded to Mathis’s questions by sending Assistant Chief Debra Kennedy an email asking what the chief observed as problematic.
After the July 15 hearing, the four-member board—chaired by Willie Belfield with members Natalie McDowell, Antron Murray and Donna Tompkins—voted unanimously to overturn the termination decision. No written explanation for the board’s decision was provided.
The Columbus Police Department declined to provide comment regarding Touchberry’s status or his return to duty, stating that personnel matters remain confidential.