ATLANTA — Gov. Brian Kemp’s office says there is no time stamp on an unprecedented intervention of state police in the City of Atlanta. The use of state troopers and DNR and GBI agents in Atlanta has been widely reported but few people appreciate the depth of this extraordinary commitment of state resources in a single city.
The governor has authorized nearly $6 million for this crime suppression effort which has rolled into Atlanta virtually every week since early April of last year. The special team has made nearly 20,000 vehicle stops and arrested than 350 people who were already wanted on criminal charges.
Channel 2 investigative reporter Richard Belcher learned this kind of street policing by state officers is apparently a first in Georgia law enforcement.
Former Georgia Attorney General Mike Bowers agrees.
“Never before have I seen this,” he told Belcher.
Bowers says public safety is the top priority in the Georgia constitution. In his view, local crime is legitimately a state issue.
“All the other things are important: education, taking care of the poor, but keeping people safe and secure in their homes and in their property and in their person, that’s the first thing the government’s got to do,” Bowers said.
He notes that the constitution mentions public safety in its second paragraph.
A review of Georgia State Patrol records obtained through the Georgia Open Records Act show that an average of 42 state officers worked the streets of Atlanta over 35 weekends between April 9, 2021, and January 9, 2022.
The GSP says the state officers occasionally work other areas in metro Atlanta, but they are assigned almost exclusively within the Atlanta city limits.
On three weekends in late June and July of last year, the state contingent totaled between 75 and 90 officers — on top of what APD put on the streets.
The results include more than 18,000 vehicles stopped; DUI arrests; the arrests of 23 murder suspects; and the seizure of stolen vehicles worth about $5.5 million.
Bowers told Channel 2 Action News that the governor’s extraordinary intervention is first about public safety, but it’s also good politics.
“Every morning on the news, all I hear is about shootings and cops getting shot and that sort of thing, and people are sick and tired of that,” he said.
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The governor ordered the state intervention while Keisha Lance Bottoms occupied the mayor’s office in city hall. She and Kemp had a famously bad relationship, including differences over policing the streets and mask mandates during the early stages of the public health crisis.
Belcher asked the governor’s office whether the intervention “...is a statement of the governor’s lack of confidence in the political and police leadership in Atlanta?”
Kemp’s spokeswoman ducked any criticism of the city, saying “this is in response to a rise in violent crime and other unlawful activity. Keeping Georgians safe is his (Kemp’s) top priority. We appreciate Chief Bryant and the Atlanta Police Department for welcoming our team and being an active partner...”
Asked by Belcher if he believes the state police commitment is an effort to send a signal that the state doesn’t trust Atlanta’s leadership, Mayor Dickens said, “No, I’m actually always welcoming a partnership. So Atlanta welcomes the Georgia State Patrol to be able to come in and help us on the weekends. As long as we have troubles on the streets, I welcome the support.”
Bowers agrees.
“It goes on as we have the conditions that we have had in Atlanta. Ever how long it is, the support from the state with additional law enforcement needs to be there.”
The governor’s office told Belcher the governor has authorized about $5.6 million for the special details in Atlanta. The GSP says it has spent about $1.6 million on overtime and aviation costs for state aircraft. That leaves another $4 million for the program.
The governor’s office told us is “there is no time stamp.”
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