Mayor Kelly Girtz spoke about gun violence and the effective policing solutions to help solve Athens-Clarke County’s public safety issue during a news conference on Friday at the University of Georgia.

 

 Girtz held a news conference with Journalism 3190 students to discuss five solutions that have been implemented in the Athens community. While robberies, burglaries and murder rates have decreased, shootings and gun violence are still a threat to the Athens community.

 

According to the Athens-Clarke County Police Department Transparency Hub, 112 shootings have occurred as of Jan. 1, 2022 with a total of 790 shots fired and 33 people injured. There was a particular spike in shootings between the middle of 2021 to April 2022. The epicenter of these shootings is seen to be on Nellie B Avenue, the Spring Valley community and the northern downtown area.

 

“Georgia was the state of origin for the greatest number of crimes associated with weapons across this nation, 5,000 in 2020,” Girtz said.

 

One important solution that Mayor Gritz talked about was effective policing. This solution focuses on better police crisis and de-escalation training beyond the state requirements and specifically targeting gang-involved violence. 

 

Because of the employment crisis, the ACCPD is still down 40 certified police officers, but Mayor Girtz says they have started to retain more officers as they have increased the payscale to a starting salary of $50,000 with a $3,000 signing bonus. 

 

With this policing solution comes more effective tools for the job. The number of cameras has increased as there are now 35 active cameras in downtown Athens, according to Girtz. ACCPD can also now identify weapons that a bullet was shot from in a matter of hours or days since they purchased their own equipment. 

 

 “We don't need weapons for war on streets,” said Mayor Girtz.

 

According to the Athens Banner-Herald, a house on East Broad Street was hit with more than 50 bullets by a street gang in July. The 55-year-old resident told police she was unaware of who did this and why. 

 

Mayor Girtz, who is for the ban on assault weapons in the United States, believes that in order to stop gun violence like this resident experienced, there should be better registration and background checks for all buyers when purchasing a weapon.