Safety and Security not a Priority to City Government
Feb 14, 2023
UGA Parents for Safety and Security (3300 strong) and its nonprofit extension SafeD Athens (900 strong) never wanted to exist. We didn’t want the job to research solutions and advocate for safety and security enhancements. Except for UGA and ACCPD law enforcement teams, community members, and similar nonprofits, nobody else was advocating for our students and the community at the level that was necessary considering security events from Summer 2021 to present. And examples will show some ACC city leaders did their best to obstruct safety and security measures.
We are nonpartisan. Our groups’ members have diverse backgrounds, ideas, and experiences. We have the common goal to bring cutting edge safety and security infrastructure to the UGA campus and Athens communities. In doing so, there will be reduced risk to trauma. And the campus community will be a safer, cleaner, and more walkable community. As we further programs, we realized it would take engagement and then approvals at times of ACC government especially within and outside of the UGA law enforcement 500 yard jurisdiction from campus borders.
The following background provides perspective to date. Athens-Clarke County government has not operated under and/or set any safety and security objectives until this new proposed plan. In fact their actions have been contradictory to overall public safety. From August - December 2021, UGA parents reacting to safety and security incidents sent numerous correspondence to UGA President Jere Morehead, UGA senior administration, ACC Mayor Kelly Girtz, city manager Blaine Williams, and campus and ACCPD law enforcement. Some correspondence did include outrage and expectations for change after horrendous security incidents. Many emails encouraged collaboration and provided benchmarked solutions and blueprints for good programs that could affect outcomes. The response from UGA was thoughtful dialogue resulting in their commitment of $8.5 Million towards safety and security efforts; this included at the time $250,000 (later an additional $100K is shared) for shared cameras and lighting with ACCPD. The response from Athens Clarke County government was sporadic email replies by ACC Mayor Girtz with appreciative comments for sending notes of concern.
Over time, UGA Parents for Safety and Security evolving in to a full nonprofit SafeD Athens discerned that the majority of those in Athens Clarke County government did not share the same mission of enhancing safety and security within the campus and Athens communities. And In fact, showed time and time again a contradictory stance.
ACC city leaders display disinterest and refusal to followup with solutions regarding safety and security.
On Dec 15, 2021, our working groups held a meeting with Mayor Kelly Girtz, city manager Blaine Williams, past ACCPD chief Cleveland Spruill, UGA police chief Dan Silk, and a leader of another nonprofit in Athens with a similar safety and security charter. Our group shared crime data, with some data not captured in mandatory reporting like the Clery Act. We shared a compilation of incidents from students and families who experienced trauma in Athens from crime; some incidents were gruesome and alarming. Stories were shared regarding concerns with the ever growing homeless population and what students, visitors, community members, and families were experiencing on a regular basis. Benchmarked programs were provided to include SafeZone (emphasizing separate prosecutor and stiffer penalties for crimes), robust Safe Ride program, Ambassadors/Escorts, Blue Lights/Call boxes, and lighting and cameras (for intervention and not just investigation). City manager Blaine Williams and Mayor Kelly Girtz did not contribute anything remarkable following the presentation. ACCPD Chief Spruill and UGA Police Chief Silk stayed back after the meeting and gave us additional time with questions and encouragement to follow up with more specifics on our presented programs.
ACC government leadership and some city commissioners took actions contradicting public safety.
Impedes critical funding. Fall 2021, city commissioner Mariah Parker leads two other city commissioners with planning to vote “no” on important Federal Grant Drug/Gang Task Force money. This grant is at no cost to Athens Clarke County. It’s sole purpose is to combat the surge of drugs and gangs in Athens. The grant money funds police officers dedicated to this mission.
Undercuts a “tough on crime” Police Chief role. On Dec 7, 2021, Police Chief Cleveland Spruill defended a regional drug task force in a statement that takes issue with city commissioner Mariah Parker’s criticism in an op-ed that it “perpetuates a racist war on drugs”. She had stated her intention to vote “no” on $139,000 Federal drug task force money at an upcoming ACC Mayor and City Commissioner meeting. Spruill, who is black, presented crime data and specific cases in Athens, as it related to the minority community. He provided context on how violence, gangs, and drugs affect families in marginalized communities. A source reported that Chief Spruill’s commentary resulted in a formal reprimand by ACC government, and he rendered his resignation shortly thereafter. Mayor Girtz follows up by tasking Mariah Parker to lead a group to select the next ACC police chief. She is on the record with a strong anti-police stance as evidenced in lyrics to her song Abolition “Defund the CIA and the cops and the pentagon...I don’t give a f..., Make ‘em raise they money with a telethon.” And, “But no matter how long it takes we will abolish the police”.
Unduly influences by building Public Safety Civilian Oversight Board with inequities. In what is supposed to be a transparent and fair process for approval of board candidates, open record request evidence shows some city commissioners influencing quantitative scoring for preferred candidates. There is back channel negotiating while excluding other decision makers. Contributions by this final board are biased, not representative, and not trusted.
Mayor and some city commissioners block UGA request to lay important fiber that supports camera infrastructure to be shared with ACCPD for safety and security purposes. Oct 2021 Mayor and City commissioners meeting shows city commissioner Melissa Link on the record voting “no” stating she is ‘gonna be voting no on this I intend to vote no on any item that is in agreement with UGA…until there is living wages, affordable housing, and redress for people in Linnentown.’ Carol Myers states discomfort with surveillance. The Mayor and city commissioners decide to “table” the vote. UGA government relations position responds to the M&C decision with a formal letter retracting their proposal and highlighting that the M&C decision will negatively affect the safety of UGA campus and Athens communities. During this Fall timeframe and to present, this particular area that may have been served by the cameras incurred multiple gang arrests, shootings in to a crowd, six armed robberies in a 30 minute time frame, 2 FBI gang task force stings (confiscating a land mine), and multiple independent gang member arrests by ACCPD. These actions by the Mayor and city commissioners were more than contradicting safety and security enhancements; their negligible action put students and community members in harm’s way.
Mayor and City commissioners do not readily accept UGA funds for camera and lighting infrastructure totaling $350,000 until August 2022 M&C meeting. This money ($250K of the total) was offered to Athens Clarke County government for these purposes in Oct 2021. This action delayed important camera and lighting enhancements during particularly dangerous security incidents from Fall 2021 - present.
At Dec 2022 M&C meeting, Mayor and city commissioners fail to reach votes necessary to pass Federal Grant Drug Task Force money ($139,000) for 2023, to which funds ACC police officers designated to combating drugs and gangs in Athens Clarke County. Our working groups sent an email to mayor and city commissioners, and upcoming new city commissioners, a fact based request to approve based on gang and drug activity in the past 18 months to include two FBI stings, ACCPD independent arrests, arrest of drug traffickers with enough fentanyl doses to kill 2,000 people, fentanyl poisoning fatalities of a toddler and an infant, data on overdoses and dead bodies discovered, and the correlation of drugs and gangs with homeless populations such as those in Athens. Failing to reach the votes means less resources constrict ACCPD to keep the campus and Athens communities safe. Direct impact is more children may die, gangs are free to operate a drug market, homeless population continues to be preyed upon, and fentanyl continues to flow in to Athens.
Mayor and Athens Downtown Development Authority take action to suppress the fact that Athens is a dangerous city. ADDA proposes an “Ambassador Program” (not to be confused with Ambassador/Escort references with Block by Block). This is a small pilot to put a couple ambassadors on the streets in downtown Athens to provide hospitality and also serve as “eyes and ears” on the ground with the street population. In reading the proposal, a main goal of the small force is to give the perception of safety. It is not real engagement with the street population in order to provide substantive mental health outreach with trained Outreach Ambassadors. Our groups presented a petition with nearly 1200 signatures to dissuade this effort and instead propose Block by Block Ambassadors/Escorts for on and off campus. This petition is presented to the ADDA with a request to work together for a better program. A second presentation is made to ask for collaboration. Both requests are ignored (assuming denied) and we have no real opportunity to present a more comprehensive and integrated Ambassador/Escort program that would uniquely serve the campus and downtown communities to include proprietary SMART technology and fill in important outreach gaps determined by data. In fact, our efforts have been ignored by the city government.
Will ACC government’s new plan make Athens safer?
We are encouraged with a new city commission and a new year. There are more similarities than differences between this government body and our working groups. After another rough Fall of shootings, mostly gang related, all are affected and we hope to share the same goal to make Athens safer, cleaner, and walkable. We all want to desperately keep our families safe.
We can’t spend time dwelling on past actions of many in ACC government. All must be heard and work together to provide practical and common sense safety and security programs to the UGA and Athens communities. Much in this new ACC government public safety proposal are programs that will see impact over time, even decades. We support those efforts. Equally, critical programs, some nontraditional, can be implemented immediately that will make communities safer within weeks and months.
In looking at the ACC government public safety proposal, take special note of “People” section. Section “F” reads: Continuation crime reduction through non-traditional means like community policing, volunteerism, mentorships, restorative justice, and community protection through environmental design. First, our groups have talked at length and provided blueprints for Block by Block Ambassadors/Escorts for on and off campus (especially in the downtown area, hot spots, and near off campus housing). This BBB program provides a combination of safety and outreach ambassadors (an important measure to reduce homelessness). Their zones and coverage are established by data. Their employees are well trained and paid well with full benefits. Liability rests with the vendor. Block by Block uses local employees and recruits second chance employees. Integrated into functions, there is important proprietary “real-time” technology. BBB is 100% aligned to Section F, but was not only previously ignored by ACC government, Athens Downtown Authority acted in a contradictory manner with a less comprehensive Ambassador program and refused to meet after two requests to discuss BBB as aforementioned. We hope this new commission will support this program immediately. Second, our program Multi-Housing Crime Accreditation, to which we have talked at length about in the past, protects off campus housing and any interested landlord in Athens. It includes attention to crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED). CPTED attention with any new building design in Athens should be included. Again, this program is 100% aligned with Section F and we hope this new commission supports this program immediately.
In reading the overall public safety plan by ACC government, the elephants in the room still need to be talked about, to which a few city commissioners are not leary to discuss.
First, Athens Clarke County has had a disproportionate gang problem affecting the campus and Athens communities as evidenced by FBI Operation Tourniquet and Washed Out Classic City stings since early 2021. Plus ACCPD did significant arrests in addition. And the majority of so many shootings in the last 18 months were proven to be gang related. Nationally affiliated gang members aren’t just wayward local youth looking to belong. Athens is past that. It’s an organized enterprise to which there should be support in ACC government’s public safety plan to make sure ACCPD has what they need to combat gangs and drugs (i.e. JAG grants that have been in jeopardy or denied in the past).
Second, a good public safety plan includes reducing homelessness. Data shows correlation between the homeless and gangs, crime, and drugs. Gangs and drug dealers use this vulnerable population to escalate their drug market, hide weapons, and prey upon them as they are silent victims. A vision is necessary to stop the influx of homeless in to Athens and then prioritizing resources to reduce the number of homeless through effective mental health outreach. It is not believed that the Cloudburst strategic plan has this intention. In contradiction, ACC government and some city commissioners are working on sustainability and expansion of homeless services creating an industry. Existing free transit programs and new expanded bus services facilitate the movement of homeless in to Athens. Financing additional sanctioned encampments or full use of local hotels entice homeless to come. No identifiable measures to disallow other counties and entities from transfering their homeless to Athens streets exacerbates the local problem.
Third, “protecting community from harm” as stated in their safety proposal means follow through after police make arrests and through the judicial process. Under the current Athens DA Gonzalez vision summary and her office’s actions to date, dangerous individuals are out immediately or too quickly to cause harm. In Dec 2022, a dangerous human trafficker was dismissed as her office failed to give the defendant a speedy trial. The case was egregious, and the victim was a 14 year old girl held captive and sex trafficked between two states. Failures in bail practices, delaying indictments, light sentencing, not protecting witnesses, ineffective prosecuting, and perhaps influencing additional arrests in some cases means dangerous individuals are back out on the streets to kill or do more harm as was seen in two UGA student fatalities from hit and runs. ACC government’s public safety plan must set standards for the local DA office’s performance and require accountability in line with the committment to the campus and Athens communities that they will do everything in their power as elected officials to protect the population from violent offenders (many repeat offenders). The Athens DA’s office is already past their own “3 strikes and you’re out” at the expense of lives.
Please carefully read the ACC government Safety plan. Please support ACC government investing in the programs we’ve put forth that are 100% aligned with their public safety proposal such as Block by Block Safety and Outreach Ambassadors and Multi Housing Crime Accreditation with attention to Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. We can’t expend another life, and put students and community members at continued risk to trauma.
In summary, our groups didn’t want to put such effort in to advocating for safety and security but too much has happened to our students, our friends, visitors, and community members. We did the homework, passed the blueprints, and even fully designed the programs, several to which are aligned as “nontraditional” with ACC Government safety plan. We are working on the same shared mission, and we know these programs can be implemented without delay.
In 2021 Athens-Clarke County received $57.6 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding; none of this original $57.6 ARP-SLFRF funding has been allocated to provide direct programming or infrastructure to enhance community safety and security within Athens-Clarke County. As referenced above, UGA funded $350,000 in downtown camera infrastructure.. City government had the opportunity to fund infrastructure needs such as enhanced street lighting in underserved neighborhoods, more frequent and updated call boxes on bike trails, desperately needed ladder fire truck replacement, general fire equipment, replacement of 30 year old traffic signals, etc. but chose otherwise.
Other Covid-19 relief funding from federal agencies is being administered through the state of Georgia. Athens-Clarke County has received a portion as the $2.5 million HOME-Grant to support homeless housing and services and ACC continues to apply for more available ARP (and other) Grants.. It is possible to direct this funding to the SPLOST Project #28 which involves building non-congregate housing on site at Advantage Behavioral Health where at least mental health services are accessible. Further discussion of homeless issues will be presented as followup. Read about the general actual ARP allocations and future use here.