State committee studying gang violence meets with Savannah leaders, law enforcement

Savannah Morning News - 8/30/2019

A Georgia House Study committee looking to curb gang violence visited Savannah on Thursday as a part of its statewide tour to find viable solutions to the state's gang problem.

The House Study Committee on Gang and Youth Violence Prevention, chaired by State Rep. Carl Gilliard, D-Garden City, met with local law enforcement and leaders from city and county youth organizations at Georgia Southern University's Armstrong Campus.

Created by House Resolution 585 during the 2019 legislative session, the House Study Committee aims to examine the rising rate of gang violence in Georgia and determine legislative recommendations for the 2020 legislative session.

It was the second stop on the four-stop tour. The group will also be visiting Augusta and LaGrange to talk about the issues facing those communities before the Dec. 1 deadline to turn in their findings and recommendations to the state.

Their recommendations will be used to craft legislative and financial strategies to help fight the issue in the 2020 legislative session.

Gilliard said they've identified 71,000 active gangs in Georgia, 1,400 of which were in Chatham County.

"And that's just the ones we've identified," Gilliard said.

Gilliard said most of the participants at these study meetings have said collaboration between community members and law enforcement was a crucial part of stopping gang violence.

"Law enforcement cannot do it by themselves. It's not the responsibility of the GBI to raise our children. What can we do?" Gilliard said. "From the churches to the holistic programs, everyone has said it's going to take a total community collaboration."

For Gilliard, gang violence is an issue that hits close to home.

"I've had a passion for this since 1984. We've had major issues with violence in Savannah. I know, because I lost two friends to it in 1984," Gilliard said. "The journey to this committee has been a lifelong process."

At the meeting on Thursday, U.S. Congressman Buddy Carter, R-1st District, applauded Gilliard and the other members of the committee for their study on the topic, noting that the subject was complicated.

"Gang violence, youth violence is a very complicated issue," Carter said. "There's no one item we can choose and say 'OK, this is the solution, this is the silver bullet.' We all understand that."

The study committee met from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, passing out questionnaires to members of the public in attendance to collect as many thoughts on the subject as possible.

Those surveys will also be sent to all 159 counties to collect municipality-specific programs and suggestions.

Gilliard said the goal is to identify the issues of individual communities and work with those communities to determine which initiatives are working.

"We're looking at programs that already exist, and seeing what kinds of programs and services they don't have," Gilliard said. "What do we need to do in their individual communities? What's the problem? Is it the number of illegal guns in youth hands? Is it poverty? Retention? What do we need to do?"

"We have the capacity to look at these internal factors, and this is our defining moment," Gilliard said. "We've got to do something."

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