Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr hosted a meeting for the Georgia Anti-Gang Network at the Columbia County Board of Education building Tuesday, July 12.
Columbia County District Attorney Bobby Christine, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, Augusta District Attorney Jared Williams and many other local, federal and state law enforcement officials joined Carr for the meeting.
Carr recently brought together the start of Georgia’s first statewide Gang Prosecution Unit, which took effect on July 1.
“We’re very excited; this is a historic, first-of-its-kind, gang prosecution unit in the state of Georgia,” Carr said. “When you’re dealing with gang activity, we know 60 to 90% of violent crimes are gang affiliated. Now the state has the ability to prosecute these cases with federal, state and local law enforcement.”
The meeting agenda for Tuesday was to discuss the new Gang Prosecution Unit and ongoing efforts to fight criminal gang activity across the state.
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“We also have a human trafficking problem and 80% of human trafficking cases are also gang affiliated. It is just a matter of having the tools, and the resources to fight violent crime and fight gang activity, and it takes district attorneys, it takes U.S. attorneys, and all of us fighting together and that is what we’re doing now,” he said.
Gang activity in schools was also discussed as many people are getting recruited to gangs at a very young age, and Carr said it was important to have a counter approach and to bring in other organizations to work together.
“We tried to figure out who all needed to be at the table and we have realized we need to have K-12. We need to have the technical college and the university system. One of the pillars is to identify proven evidence-based programs that can cut at the recruitment piece. What anti-recruitment programs can we take and implement here and implement around the state because that is important as well,” Carr said.
Christine said Columbia County has implemented more safety officers to reduce gang recruitment in local schools.
“The Columbia County school board has instituted the credentialing of their safety officers into its own organization. Without the expense of one additional dime, we now have 40 certified officers that we didn’t have last year,” Christine said. “Those sorts of relationships they have with students, when they have a child that is getting courted or groomed by a gang, they can intercede and save that tragedy.”
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In 2018, a survey was conducted by the Georgia Gang Investigators reporting a rise in gang activity in 157 out of the 159 counties in the state. Carr referred to this survey when making a point after the meeting.
“There is gang activity in all communities in Georgia, the point is what are we doing about it,” Carr said. “We’re coming together to attack the problem and address the problem because we know gangs don’t stop at the city and the county line or the state line, that is why it is also critically important to have the attorney general from South Carolina here, so we can have good relationships and good communication there as well.”
Wilson thanked Carr and the state for including him in the meeting on Tuesday.
“Recognizing that it is not just multi-jurisdictional with the confines of your counties and various agencies that are working in the state of Georgia,” Wilson said. “I’m incredibly grateful we were included in this conversation today.”
Chris Rickerson is a staff reporter covering Columbia County government and general assignment topics for The Augusta Press. Reach him at chris@theaugustapress.com.
