Richmond County deputies made arrests and confiscated guns and drugs during road checks last week.
The June 29 road checks were part of Operation Grace — Gang Resistance and Community Engagement. Richmond County Chief Deputy Patrick Clayton says this was a joint operation with the FBI, Richmond County Sheriff’s Office, ATF, U.S. Marshal’s Service, Georgia State Patrol and GBI.
Deputies conducted the checks at the intersections of Kissingbower and White Roads as well as Richmond Hill and Bungalow Roads.
In all, there were 259 traffic stops, resulting in 29 arrests, 16 DUIs and 11 guns seized.
Authorities also seized 2,745 grams of marijuana, 5.6 grams of cocaine, 67.8 grams of methamphetamine, 128 oxycodone pills and 49 alprazolam pills.
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“The road checks targeted traffic safety as we have too many traffic accidents, injuries and fatalities, especially during July 4th weekend,” Clayton said. “Additionally, these checks have the residual effect of curbing gun violence, gang activity and related drug trafficking.”
Last week, Clayton had said Richmond County deputies might do more road checks over the course of the holiday weekend, but they did not.
“We believe that the road checks create a residual effect and diffusion of benefits,” Clayton said. “These road checks target traffic safety, and we didn’t have any traffic fatalities over July 4th weekend. Additionally, we didn’t have any homicides. This is normally one of our most deadly periods of the year. Hopefully, we saved some lives.”
Although they did not do more over the holiday weekend, more are expected to happen in the future.
