An independent investigation regarding the termination of three Dunwoody Police officers in late 2025 concluded that neither racial nor sexual discrimination played a part in the force’s decision to fire them.
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The investigators also stated the officers were not retaliated against because of their efforts to engage in “protected activity.”
The three officers – Ramatu Kamara, Jakori Edwards, and Jessica Preston – were terminated, or allowed to resign, after they were accused of several offenses, including conducting unauthorized database searches for a man who was allegedly dating one of the officers.
All three claimed in official grievance letters that they received harsher punishments because they are Black and cited incidents in which their white counterparts received less punitive punishments.
According to Georgia law, any person “who knowingly requests, obtains, or attempts to obtain criminal history record information under false pretenses, or who knowingly communicates or attempts to communicate criminal history record information to any agency or person except in accordance with this article, or any member, officer, employee or agent of the center, the council, or any participating agency who knowingly falsifies criminal history record information or any records relating thereto shall for each such offense, upon conviction thereof, be fined not more than $5,000.00, or imprisoned for not more than two years, or both.”
The investigation
A 24-page independent investigative report obtained by Rough Draft, which was conducted by the workplace law firm Fisher & Phillips LLP at the city’s request, concluded that allegations of racial and sex discrimination made by the former officers were unsubstantiated.
“Based on my interviews and review of documents provided during the investigation, the disciplinary decisions related to the grievants are supported by the evidence, and I was unable to find any evidence that race or sex factored into any of the decisions, or that any of them were retaliated against for engaging in protected activity, or otherwise,” Fisher & Phillips investigator Tracy Glaton concluded.
The firm was engaged in late 2025 following three internal affairs investigations conducted by Dunwoody Criminal Investigations Lt. Jason Dove, which resulted in the termination of the three officers, according to the report. The F&P report was sent to the city on January 29.
The engagement of an outside firm regarding the violations and subsequent allegations is in stark contrast to a 2020 investigation of former Lt. Fidel Espinoza after multiple allegations of sexual harassment by former officers. Then-Police Chief Billy Grogan conducted the investigation himself, concluding that Espinoza sent sexually laden texts to his subordinates, but did not harass or coerce them.
The fallout from the Espinoza debacle resulted in several former officers filing lawsuits. A jury awarded a former Dunwoody officer $180,000 after a civil trial in 2024.
The 2025 investigation, according to an invoice obtained by Rough Draft, cost $13,685.
2024 officer of the year accused of fabricating job offer
Edwards, hired in 2023 as a patrol officer and named both the department’s second quarter officer and Rising Star of the Year in 2024, was terminated on Nov. 21, 2025, after an investigation of allegations that he ran an unauthorized Georgia Crime Investigation Center/National Crime Investigation Center (GCIC/NCIC) search on a Virginia man, Yazid Ajape, at the request of Kamara.
The report said that Ajape had initiated a complaint with the Dunwoody Police on Nov. 12, 2025.
“Ajape reported that he had been living with Kamara, and while living with her, he was informed that he had an outstanding warrant for his arrest in Virginia but was unable to obtain information from authorities in Virginia,” the report said. “He reported that Kamara told him that she asked Edwards to look him up, and Edwards confirmed that Ajape had a warrant and a protective order.”
When questioned, however, Edwards denied he had run Ajape’s name on his computer even after Dove presented Edwards with the screenshot of the warrant hit on his assigned laptop, the report said.
Ajape, the report said, also provided a screenshot from his phone, which showed the Oct. 4, 2025 warrant hit on GCIC/NCIC, providing photographic proof that the search was run on Edwards’ laptop.
Along with the GCIC/NCIC violation, the report also said that Edwards had lied about having a conditional job offer from the Georgia State Patrol in violation of the department’s truthfulness policy. He appealed his termination with a grievance letter sent on Nov. 28, 2025. However, a letter from Dunwoody City Manager Eric Linton dated Feb. 11 said the decision to fire him was upheld.
Edwards, through his attorney, Tierra Monteiro, an associate attorney with Radford Scott LLP, petitioned on March 18 for his status to be changed from “terminated” to “resigned in lieu of termination.” The request was granted, and Edwards’ status with the Georgia Peace Officer Standards & Training Council was modified as well, according to documents obtained by Rough Draft.
Officer pushes for ‘option to resign’
Kamara, who was hired in 2024, admitted to asking both Edwards and Preston to run Ajape’s name through GCIC/NCIC and was terminated on Nov. 20, 2025.
Dove’s investigative report said that Kamara admitted she sent a picture of Edwards’ computer screen to Ajape and conducted a FaceTime call with Ajape to show him the warrant on Edwards’ computer.
The series of events “resulting in Kamara’s investigation and subsequent termination began on Nov. 7, 2025, when she was stopped at an airport in Virginia and served with two criminal warrants, one for misdemeanor threats and the other for misdemeanor dissemination of a videographic or still image,” Dove’s report said.
The warrants stemmed from a domestic situation involving Ajape and his wife, the report said. Ajape’s wife, whose first name was not disclosed in the report, brought the charges against Kamara.
According to the report, after she was terminated, Kamara emailed a formal grievance letter to Linton and the department’s HR department on Dec. 1, alleging she received inequitable and discriminatory treatment based on her race.
“I believe it is in everyone’s best interest that I be given the option to resign rather than be terminated,” Kamara’s letter said. “I will not accept termination under these circumstances, particularly in light of the pattern of disparate treatment I have experienced as a Black employee.”
The Fisher & Phillips report, however, found that the investigation showed that “the decision to terminate Kamara for violation of GCIC/NCIC related policies and state law is supported by the evidence, and there is no evidence that race or retaliation factored into the decisions to place Kamara on administrative leave and subsequently terminate her employment.”
According to a document obtained by Rough Draft, Linton emailed Kamara on Feb. 12, saying that he reviewed her grievance letter and “I find that your grievance was not substantiated. As a result, I am upholding the decision of the Police Chief.”
Preston claims racial discrimination
Preston had worked for Dunwoody as an officer since 2022 and was terminated on Nov. 20, 2025, the F&P report said. During interviews with Dove on Nov. 14 and 24, Preston said she could not remember running Ajape’s name through the GCIC/NCIC system. Dove, according to the report, requested an audit of the Flock system to ascertain whether there were any searches on Ajape’s license plates.
The report stated that Preston had run Ajape’s license plate through the city’s Flock Safety database as well as GCIC/NCIC, according to a document accompanying the report.
Preston asserted that she believed that running the computer checks on Ajape “was within the scope of her law enforcement duties.” She claimed, according to the report, that Kamara had received “harassing/threatening messages” from Ajape, and that she was concerned about Kamara’s safety.
Preston, the report said, filed two grievance letters on Nov. 18 and Nov. 24, and, like Kamara and Edwards, claimed that she was discriminated against because she is Black. She also complained that two previous incidents that resulted in disciplinary action against her were harsher than her white counterparts had received for similar violations.
“I am not trying to cause problems – I just want to work in a respectful and fair environment,” she wrote in the grievance letter. “I just want to be treated fairly and held to the same standards as everyone else.”
The Fisher & Phillips’ Jan. 29 report said, “based on the information reviewed during the investigation, the decision to terminate Preston for violation of the GCIC/NCIC policies and state law is supported by the evidence.” On Feb. 11, the department sent an email to Preston, saying that “following a thorough review, the grievance has been determined to be unsubstantiated.”
City responds, fate of officers unknown
It could not be determined from the investigative reports or accompanying documents received by Rough Draft whether the officers involved in the unauthorized searches would be fined or charged with a misdemeanor.
City of Dunwoody Communications Manager Jennifer Boettcher declined to comment on the investigation.
“While the City does not comment on personnel matters, we take policy violations seriously and have processes in place to review concerns and address misconduct when warranted,” she wrote in an email to Rough Draft on April 10.
Rough Draft contacted Edwards’ attorney for comment, as well as Kamara through her LinkedIn profile, but has not received a response.
Rough Draft contacted the police department’s public information officer Sgt. Michael Cheek, former police officers, researched social media channels, and contacted other sources to solicit a comment from Preston regarding this story, but was unsuccessful in locating her. Preston’s and the other former officers’ phone numbers and email addresses are redacted from all the investigative reports obtained by Rough Draft.
Supporting documents:
- Edwards’ grievance letter, also included earlier in the story, can be found here.
- Kamara’s grievance letter, also included earlier in the story, can be found here.
- Preston’s grievance letters, also included earlier in the story, can be found here and here.
Dunwoody Police Officers Terminated: What the Investigation Found
An independent probe concluded neither racial nor sexual discrimination played a role in the firing of three officers.
