Georgia – Several government departments in the state are asking for extra money to deal with an increase in work. This is because of recent actions taken against street gangs.
Georgia Attorney General seek money for the administrative part of the process
Chris Carr, a Republican and the Attorney General, along with leaders of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Georgia Public Defender Council, talked to state lawmakers last Thursday. They want to start a new group to focus on street gangs, add people to analyze gang data, and get more lawyers for serious gang crime cases.
After a new law supported by Governor Brian Kemp and the state legislature, Carr’s office began a gang prosecution team in July 2022. This team has been quite active, leading to over 100 people being charged and about 24 people found guilty. In Georgia, gang crime is a big issue. In 2023, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation found that there were 287 investigations into street gangs in 93 counties, resulting in 325 people being arrested for serious crimes.
More money for law enforcement in Georgia
But on Thursday, money given to the police remined in the focus, but also from a perspective from the state as law makers want to further expand the operations against gang violence. Keeping Georgians safe is really important for Governor Brian Kemp and his team this year in government.
At the budget meetings on Thursday, people from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Attorney General’s Office in Georgia talked about how well they are doing in stopping street gangs lately.
They mentioned that this success is partly because the state gave money specifically for dealing with gang violence. Police leaders explained to the state’s lawmakers that gangs are causing trouble in many places in Georgia. They are behind 60 to 90 percent of the crimes happening on the streets.
“We are seeing these groups all over the state,” state Attorney General Chris Carr explained. “Gangs don’t care where the city or county line are, so we see them operating in multiple jurisdictions.”
The governor has included money in his budget proposal to create a new GBI Gang Task Force in Columbus.
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“With our task forces, whether it’s drugs, but especially with our gang task forces, the GBI can’t do it alone.” remarked GBI Director Chris Hosey. “We work closely with our local, state, and federal partners, working as a team, because that is what it is going to take. But also working with our communities.”
Last year, Carr set up Georgia’s first state-wide team to prosecute gangs, with special lawyers and investigators in Atlanta, Augusta, and Albany.
Now, he’s asking for more money to make this team bigger and reach more parts of Georgia.
“We truly believe that we can do more good work, working with federal, state and local law enforcement, if we have a presence all over the state,” said Carr, “which is why we are asking for additional funding to go to Columbus, Macon, and Savannah.”
State Senator Ed Harbison, who represents Columbus, is really supportive of the state’s Gang Prosecution Unit. He thinks it would be a great help to the police.
“I wholly support it,” Harbison said. “I think we need to have the ability of people to walk down the street safely, eradicate crime. It’s going to be a slow process but i think we are making progress.”