Members of the Public Safety Committee as well as other members of the commission discussed the recent uptick in violent crime across the area at the April 26 meeting and discussed some possible solutions.
Richmond County Chief Deputy Pat Clayton was on the agenda to appear before the committee but was unable to attend due to a scheduling conflict.
Clayton was to ask commissioners to approve $60,000 to purchase 25 new security cameras to be placed in the high crime areas. District 10 Commissioner John Clarke forwarded the request on to the committee but was met with resistance with many on the panel stating that Richmond County Sheriff Richard Roundtree should be the one to make the request in person.
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“In the last five or seven years, this body has given the sheriff everything he has asked for. We’ve given them over $13 million, and a $60,000 ask isn’t a lot, and I’m sure the cameras will make an impact, but when the department has over 100 plus openings and they can’t find resources, in my mind, they don’t need $60,000 from us. They should already have it,” District 7 Commissioner Sean Frantom said.
District 4 Commissioner Al Mason commented the money might be better spent on more streetlights in the troubled areas.
“When you’re driving through Barton Village at night, it is as dark as I-don’t-know-what. There are no streetlights and that increases the probability of crime happening because can’t nobody see nothing,” Mason said.
Mason agreed with District 1 Commissioner Jordan Johnson that more funding should go to the after school programs that have been canceled by the Parks and Recreation Department due to budget constraints.
According to Mason, all the youth programs at Barton Village have been discontinued. As the talk about youth program cancellations continued, District 2 Commissioner Dennis Williams seemed to point at the elephant in the room. Without naming names, Williams warned about electing individuals who could abuse their power.
“We as citizens need to be careful about who we are electing, who we’re putting into office,” Williams said.
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Clarke said he knew who Williams was referring to, but was glad the commission stayed on point rather than start pointing fingers, but said that Mayor Hardie Davis Jr.’s use of the My Brother’s Keeper fund, which was supposed to be aimed at troubled youth, but instead went to consultants along with revelations the mayor may have dipped into Parks and Recreation funds to pay his former campaign manager while youth programs were being canceled does need to be discussed.
Davis was not at the meeting.
“I was going to address it, but I thought, no, I’ll wait until we get a little further along. But talking about the money that was used for pole dancers and makeup artists from the My Brother’s Keeper fund, that money was just squandered away,” Clarke said.
Clarke, who is chairman of the Public Safety Committee, added he was pleased the conversation opened the door for further, even more candid talks about a problem that affects every corner of the community.
“It seems like nobody has respect for other people’s lives. Where did we go wrong? As a society, where did we go wrong?” Clarke said.
The committee voted to accept the sheriff’s funding request as information and agreed to invite him to speak in person at the next full commission meeting.
Scott Hudson is the senior reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
