Larry Whisenant

Larry Whisenant
Img-2573.jpg Img-2573.jpg
Born
🏳️ Nationality	American
🏳️ Citizenship	United States
💼 Occupation	Police Officer
👔 Employer	City of Poulan
🏢 Organization	Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police
Known for	Police Corruption
Title	Police Chief
🏛️ Political party	Republican Party
🌐 Website	https://www.cityofpoulan.com/police-department.html

Larry Whisenant is an American Police Officer and the current Police Chief of Poulan, GA. He is most famous for his internal and external corruption. Multiple news articles, investigative articles, and even former police officers have publicly exposed him as a corrupt official. Despite this, the City of Poulan and the State of Georgia refuses to investigate or even consider the rapidly mounting evidence of Whisenant's continued corruption, stealing, racketeering, and fraud complaints against him.

Early Years

Little is known about Whisenant's early years as a police officer. He has apparently kept his, normally, public records out of the hands of journalists. It is widely reported that he has been employed at some point by the following agencies:

• Dougherty County Police Department
• Dougherty County Sheriff's Office
• Ashburn Police Department
• Worth County Sheriff's Office
• Poulan Police Department

Whisenant is reported to have served in the United States Military, but there is no publicly available information to confirm this. His own officers have reported that he claimed service in the US Marine Corps but even they expressed skepticism at Whisenant's supposed military service. These same former officers showcased Whisenant's self-expressed Neo-Confederate ideals through a Conservative Republican viewpoint. Little else is known about Whisenant, , he has refused nearly every interview except for one public interview he performed while arguing against a resident's free speech posting of a sign decrying the Poulan Police Department.

Controversy

Whisenant has been the center of numerous investigative journalist articles about him and the practices he engages in as the Chief of Police at the City of Poulan. Despite the multitude of articles, the State of Georgia has never conducted any investigation into Whisenant's confirmed actions. Though accused publicly in the media, and through non-fiction publishing, Whisenant has never publicly refuted any of the articles, journals, or books specifically chronicling his corrupt practices as a police officer in the United States.

In December 2007, then Police Chief Angie Schlosser, was fired from the Poulan Police Department after the city claimed she had performed an illegal background investigation into a city council member. While Schlosser denied the allegations, she stated that there were concerns about the background and supposed criminal past of the council member. Despite the seriousness of the allegation, Schlosser was never charged with a crime, and no outside investigation was conducted.

Whisenant became the Police Chief after Schlosser and quickly became a constant feature in local, national, and international news stories, most notably for its speed trap tactics starting around 2009 (the same time period Whisenant became Police Chief). The city attorney; former Albany, Georgia mayor Tommy Coleman has repeatedly defended the enforcement tactics.

Between 2008 and 2012, under Whisenant's direction, Poulan is estimated to have received $1,676,402.80 (a per-capita amount of $2,012.49) from their Police Department's tactics inside the Poulan city limits on U.S. Route 82 (GA State Route 520). Residents of Poulan have publicly voiced their concern over their police department's tactics multiple times with department leadership specifically denying quotas for summons and citations for traffic related offenses. Former officers have shown direct evidence of enforced quotas and punishments for not complying.

In September 2012, then Poulan Mayor, Dustin Grubbs, was arrested in Dougherty County and charged with felony possession of various narcotic prescription pills including oxycodone, oxycontin, and two different mixtures of Vicodin in different dosages with a total prescription pill count of 57. The arrest showcased the continued synthetic opioid epidemic in the United States. Despite the charges, Grubbs remained the Mayor of Poulan until his death in October 2020.

In August 2014, a local resident of Poulan placed a sign that warned drivers traveling on U.S. Route 82 (GA State Route 520) of the speed trap tactics. A local NBC/ABC affiliate, WALB, featured a story on the resident who claimed that Poulan Police Officers were given specific quotas. Poulan Police Chief Larry Whisenant, explicitly refuted this claim and denied that any officers were given quotas for speeding citations. In February 2015 the sign was stolen from its placement along U.S. Route 82 (GA State Route 520).

In August 2017, Rosemary Jones, a police officer employed by Poulan Police, was arrested and charged by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (along with her husband) with two counts of felony cruelty to children in the first degree, two counts of aggravated assault, and one count of felony false imprisonment. Their arrest made national and international news. Despite the arrest, Jones was retained by the Poulan Police Department, and eventually promoted to Captain under Whisenant's tenure as Chief.

In December 2023, local NBC/ABC affiliate WALB produced a report about the Poulan Police Department and showcased the speed trap tactics that the Police Department continues to use. The report calculated that the Poulan Police Department produced more income than the cost of the agency to the city's budget. Poulan Police commanders were specifically asked for documents showing the amount of income received from speeding related citations. According to the article, Poulan "declined to comment". According to Georgia law, a county or municipal law enforcement agency's budget may not exceed 35% of its annual budget from speeding related fines.

In July 2024, local NBC/ABC affiliate WALB produced another report on both the Poulan and Warwick Police Departments. City attorney Tommy Coleman defended the City of Poulan and the Police Department in an interview, claiming that Poulan's budget percentage from speed enforcement was at 22% for the years 2023 to 2024. Worth County Sheriff Don Whitaker also defended the City of Poulan in an interview he participated in for the report. Disturbingly, Worth County officials (including a member of the County Commission) and City of Poulan officials, admitted that Poulan required the revenue from speed related citations because their tax base was so small. In October, Atlanta News First featured an interview with two former officers who produced evidence of Whisenant ordering officers to comply with a quota, and the punishments they faced when they refused to comply.

In late October of 2024, former Poulan Police Officer John Masters published Blue Line Rogue; a book about Whisenant's actions that were witnessed by himself, former officer Zackery Watson, and a police officer from another agency. The book was validated by a publisher, and a total of three editions have since been published publicly. In late September and early October 2025 the book was made free to a global audience on Amazon as an audio book was released. Masters claims in the book, that Whisenant lied on official documentation, stole narcotics from an evidence locker, facilitated a prohibited person a firearm in violation of ATF rules and federal law, and compelled multiple state officials to assist him in a coverup and subsequent coercion of other state and local police commanders. Despite numerous attempts from interviewers, influencers, and podcasters; no official response to the book has been documented or given by officials named in the book, including Whisenant.

---