Richmond County Sheriff’s Department holds annual ‘Shred Day’
AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – Keeping your personal information safe. That was the goal of the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office’s annual Shred Day, a day when community members shred secured paperwork for free.
The Richmond County Sheriff’s Department Community Service Division brings in the Augusta Data Storage to help them shred paperwork.
“We try to make sure we do the community Shred Day for everybody to bring out the documents, their old paperwork, their old mail,” said Chakela Lawton, administrative assistant to the Sheriff. Old tax forms or anything paperwork such sorts that you want to get rid of, but you don’t want anybody to get ahold of your information.”
Participants did not even have to leave their cars while officers grabbed the paperwork.
“It’s important to shred your documents and not throw them in the trash because we have a lot of identity theft going on in the state and county. You have your name, address, phone number, and social security number. So, it’s very important so you won’t be a victim of identity theft,” said Lawton.
Shredding your important documents is vital to make sure your identity is safe.
“It’s super important for us as well as the community to safely shred and destroy secure documents,” said Nicole Harrell, Captain of Administration, Charles B. Webster Detention Center. “Especially working in an environment like I do where we have a duty to secure people’s personal information.”
Those who came through told me they understood the threat, which is why they came to the event.
“I come here to get my papers shred because a lot of scamming is going on and people going through the mail,” said Anthony Beard, participant.
If you are interested, the community services division puts on other events and classes.
“We work together with the actual Sheriff’s office itself, but we have our own programs as well. The Community Services Division has the youth Citizens police academy, we have the Citizens police academy, and we also have the citizens firearm classes,” Michelle Franklin, Admin Assistant for the Community Service Division.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WJBF.
