Attorney General Chris Carr wants to stop gangs in Columbus and throughout state
Attorney General Chris Carr hosted a local meeting of the Anti-Gang Network at Columbus State University Thursday after the state Senate passed a bill to boost gang prosecutions in Georgia.
Local, state and federal law enforcement officials attended the closed door meeting with Carr to discuss efforts to fight criminal gang activity in Georgia. The purpose of the Anti-Gang Network is to create a more strategic response to gang violence.
“The importance of the meeting is really to bring people in the room to get to know each other and establish those relationships,” Carr said. “You can’t call on somebody if you don’t know who they are or what they do.”
Those that attended the meeting established an infrastructure of communication between federal, state and local agencies to improve intelligence sharing between agencies, he said. The goal is that these lines of communication will ultimately lead to prosecutions of individuals who are committing the most violence in Georgia communities, he said.
Being able to communicate with other organizations that can bring resources to addressing the issue is critical, said Columbus Mayor Skip Henderson, who was in attendance. The way to get this issue under control is by sharing information and resources, he said.
One of the main messages that Henderson walked away from the meeting with was that gang violence was not just an issue in Columbus, he said.
“We tend to focus right here,” Henderson said. “But it’s an issue across the state of Georgia — really around the country.”
Law enforcement agencies across the state have focused resources on addressing gang violence, Carr said, as it is responsible for 60-90% of all violent crime in Georgia. He praised the passage of House Bill 1134 in the state Senate, which will give Carr’s office the authority to prosecute gang crimes statewide.
“We now can work with district attorneys and U.S. attorneys to keep people safe,” Carr said.
After Governor Kemp signs the bill, the new 12-person unit within the attorney general’s office will begin in July, he said, and will work full-time on gang activity.
In addition to holding those who commit the most violence accountable, identifying ways to disincentivize young people from joining gangs to begin with and helping ensure those coming out of the corrections system have opportunities for employment is also important, Carr said.
“That fits into a larger strategy of addressing gang violence,” he said. “I think anything that’s going to reduce violence and keep people safer and get better opportunities for a brighter life makes a ton of sense.”
There are around 1,500 gangs in Georgia, Carr said, adding that there is a gang problem all across the state. The message he is taking out of his meeting in Columbus is that the Anti-Gang Network is working together to identify the problem and collaborate to have more successful outcomes.
“The thing that concerns me most is, ‘Who is terrorized most often by a gang?’” Carr said. “It is lower income, racially diverse and immigrant populations.”
