‘Absolutely a game changer.’ 65 arrests in operation targeting Columbus crime hotspots

The Columbus Police Department partnered with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to arrest 65 people in Operation D.I.R.E.C.T Pressure, officials announced Thursday afternoon in a press conference.

D.I.R.E.C.T stands for Data Initiated Response to Elevated Crime Trends. The operation ran from Aug. 1, 2024, to Sep. 30, 2024. It targeted violent crime hotspots in Columbus after CPD and ATF conducted “extensive data analysis” beginning in May 2024, police said in a news release.

Three areas of Columbus were targeted: East Wynnton, North Highlands and Baker Plaza, according to CPD.

Items seized in Columbus operation

ATF purchased or seized 28 guns, including two Glocks with switches (fully automatic modification), a short-barrel shotgun and two firearms with suspected suppressors, police announced.

ATF also seized 2,239 rounds of ammunition and one set of body armor, police said. CPD said they seized 21 weapons, including one sawed-off shotgun.

The operation also led to the seizure of large amounts of drugs, according to a news release.

CPD said the ATF seized 7.5 pounds of methamphetamine, 320 grams of marijuana, 4 grams of cocaine and 398 grams of fentanyl.

CPD said they seized 1,408.6 grams of marijuana, 105.9 grams of methamphetamine, 43.1 grams of fentanyl, 14.9 grams of cocaine, 0.2 grams of heroin, 137.5 grams of ecstasy and 71 grams of psilocybin.

Police said crime statistics they gathered for Columbus from Jan. 1, 2023, to May 2024 show there were 60 murders, 513 shootings/aggravated assaults, 3,876 calls of shots fired and 1,206 firearms recovered and traced.

Columbus crime rate down

Columbus Police Chief Stoney Mathis said the crime rate in Columbus for 2025 is down about 30% compared to this time last year.

“This is absolutely a game changer for our city, “ said CPD Deputy Chief Lance Deaton. “These kind of details, they have a major effect on the reduction of crime.”

Deaton said, “The removal of guns like this and drugs off the street(s) of Columbus is a direct result of the hard work, and it is what’s going to drive crime down in this city.”

Beau Kolodka, the assistant special agent in charge of the ATF in Georgia, thanked partners for making the operation a success.

Kolodka said the ATF used Crime Gun Intelligence (CGI) to target areas of Columbus that had a higher concentration of firearms-related violent crime.

“We removed violent offenders from our communities, we disrupted gang activities, we denied firearms to prohibited individuals, and we seized unlawful firearms to include machine gun conversion devices, silencers and a lot of these firearms that we seized were stolen,” Kolodka said.

There are still open investigations because of uncovered leads in some of these cases through ballistics evidence technology that links other crimes, according to Kolodka.

Prosecuting Operation D.I.R.E.C.T. Pressure cases

Chattahoochee Judicial Circuit District Attorney Don Kelly spoke after Kolodka.

“We will be prosecuting these cases to make sure that the individuals who are on our streets with firearms or drugs are off the streets,” Kelly said.

Shanelle Booker, acting U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, said, “Operation D.I.R.E.C.T. Pressure exemplifies how federal resources, such as ATF’s National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, or NIBIN, is being used to assist law enforcement all across the country.”

As of now, Booker said, Operation D.I.R.E.C.T. Pressure has led to federal indictments against three people. Two of those people have pleaded guilty for illegal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, according to Booker.

“Both defendants have lengthy criminal histories, including convictions for aggravated assault right here out of Muscogee County,” Booker said.

South Columbus crime hotspots

Crime maps of Columbus provided by CPD show hotspots in south Columbus for many of the aforementioned crime analytics gathered by CPD and ATF for this operation.

When asked why some of these crimes are happening in south Columbus, Mathis said, “The south side of Columbus has historically been an area of underserved community, and oftentimes in the underserved community that’s where you have crime and violence.”

Mathis said CPD is approaching this issue. The department is conducting operations like this but also is sending its community relations officers to these areas to try to build relationships, he said.

“Now those individuals that live there are passing information onto us, and that’s why you see all these guns sitting up here,” Mathis said.

This story was originally published February 27, 2025 at 3:48 PM.