Dalton Police officer arrested for child molestation



A Dalton Police Department officer arrested for child molestation was placed on administrative leave nine days ago after allegations surfaced and is expected to be fired.
Daniel Harrison Tolbert, 32, was arrested today and booked into the Whitfield County jail.
Tolbert was placed on administrative leave “immediately after being informed by the Whitfield County Sheriff’s Office and Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) that he was being investigated on suspicion of child molestation,” according to a press release from the Dalton Police Department.
While Tolbert is currently on administrative leave, the city will begin the process of his termination immediately.
“I am very disappointed to hear about this allegation, and upset about the discredit this will surely bring on our department, and officers,” Dalton Police Chief Jason Parker said in the press release. “We would never condone or support the kind of behavior that would warrant this charge ... the men and women of this department hold ourselves to a very high standard of behavior, and we know the community we serve expects our behavior to be beyond reproach.”
Tolbert has served the Dalton Police Department for three months after completing the police academy in September. He was sworn in on Sept. 16. At the time of his suspension, Tolbert was still in the department’s field training program. Because of his status as a trainee, Tolbert was never unsupervised or alone while on duty as a Dalton officer. Probationary trainees ride with an experienced training officer for three phases of field training for at least four months after completing the police academy.
Tolbert is a native of Fayetteville, where he graduated from Lovejoy High School, according to information on the Dalton Police Department blog. Tolbert continued his education, graduating in 2006 with a bachelor’s degree in political science from Fort Valley State University. In 2012, he received a master’s degree in criminal justice from Georgia College and State University.
Before Tolbert joined the Dalton Police Department, he had a law enforcement background. He worked for the U.S. Border Patrol in California and was a jail deputy with the Clayton County Sheriff's Office. Tolbert served in the U.S. Army from 2006 to 2008.