Joyce Farmer wants to be the next Fulton County Sheriff

Joyce Farmer, a candidate for Fulton County Sheriff, has two distinct memories embedded in her brain regarding why she is running for elected office for the first time in her life. In an interview inside The Atlanta Voice building earlier this week, she recalled both moments with vivid color. 

Moment one: Farmer was in her East Point Police Department uniform when a mother and daughter approached her. Zoe, an eight-year-old girl, walked over to Farmer and asked her why she was running for sheriff. The girl recognized her from a campaign poster and asked her mother if they could meet the lady in uniform. Farmer, a mother of three adult children and grandmother of two, wanted to make sure she took a moment to answer the girl. “I told her the reason why I want to be sheriff is to protect little girls like her,” Farmer remembered. 

Moment two: The death of Lashawn Thompson within the walls of the Fulton County Jail on Sept. 13, 2022. The 35-year-old was found dead inside his cell in the psychiatric wing of the jail covered in bed bugs. The thought of Thompson’s death still bothers Farmer despite her not working at the jail since her retirement in 2018 after nearly 30 years with the department. She’s currently a lieutenant with the East Point Police Department. “That incident really bothered me because that is unacceptable,” she said. “Mental health is not a crime, it’s a sickness, just like someone with high blood pressure. Part of my platform will be to educate the community because a lot of people deal with mental health issues in their family.” 

Not having any political experience might help Farmer. She is coming into the primary election without having had dreams of becoming the sheriff of Atlanta’s largest county. By her account, Farmer used to avoid any thoughts of becoming Fulton County’s top cop. She said after Thompson’s death she would hear from former coworkers and civilians, both saying she should start thinking about running for sheriff. “I prayed about it and asked God if he wanted me to do this please let me know,” she recalled. 

She started campaigning in June 2023 and hasn’t looked back since. “I’m so grateful and I’m going to stay grounded,” said Farmer.

There’s a lot of fights in Farmer. She was a deputy for 15 years before she was finally promoted to the rank of sergeant by former three-term Fulton County Sheriff Jacquelyn Harrison Barrett, the first Black female sheriff in the United States, in 2003. Farmer was moved out of the jail and into the role of a trainer at the Public Safety Center, where she helped train incoming sheriff’s deputies. 

Farmer says she has a plan to raise morale within the department. “The supervisors shouldn’t be so hard on the staff in the field doing the work,” she said. An example she gave was being more supportive of how work shifts are divided up between the staff. “If I know you’re a single parent and you need help with your kids, maybe the 3-11 pm shift works best for you, so why would I put you on the 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. shift?” 

The reason for creating those personal connections with the staff is simple, says Farmer. “It’s all about being real. I might not be that polished politician, but I want to be real and look out for each other.”

Born and raised in Macon, Farmer brings decades of experience to the polls on May 12 for the Democratic primary. She and her staff have already held a ribbon-cutting outside of her election headquarters, and she says she intends to have more public interactions with voters and potential voters going forward like the personal connections similar to the one she had with Zoe and her mother.

“As a deputy, we are there to protect the inmates from each other and themselves,” explained Farmer, a 34-year veteran of law enforcement, which includes 29 years with the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office (FCSO). “Everybody is not in the [law enforcement] field for all the right reasons.”  

When asked if she believes she can win the election Farmer said she did. “God already said I got it,” said Farmer. “I just need to trust him. Man doesn’t promote me, God does.”

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