ATLANTA (WRBL) — Gov. Brain Kemp has started his second term as Georgia’s chief executive.
He’s pushing his legislative agenda as the General Assembly nears its midway point.
WRBL got an exclusive one-on-one interview with Gov. Kemp late Wednesday afternoon in his office.
He talked about crime – especially street gangs and their impact across the state and in Columbus.
On Tuesday, Columbus Council was presented a report by Jensen Hughes, a consulting firm that took a deep dive into the issues inside the city’s police department. That study found leadership and transparency issues, but it also noted that there was not a coordinated plan to deal with the city’s growing gang problem.
The governor has made attacking the street gang problem part of his legislative agenda, forming a task force inside the Attorney General’s office to prosecute gang cases across the state. Right now he has a bill in the General Assembly that would toughen laws against those who recruit children into criminal street gangs.
WRBL asked the governor how the state could help communities fight this issue.
“We are going after these people everywhere that they are,” Kemp told WRBL. “We have legislation this year that is going to go after those who are recruiting our kids into gangs. My message was, ‘You come after our children, we are coming after you.'”
The governor points but there are a lot of state resources, but there has to be significant local participation
“I would encourage the locals to make sure and get educated on what those are by talking to the GBI. By talking to Attorney General Carr and his team. We want to help you. We want to partner with you. But we also got to have the locals in the fight with us. We are not the local police department. We are glad to help do operations We are glad to supplement like we have done with crime suppression units where the state patrol and other state law enforcement have helped have 1,500 arrests in the Columbus area. … The more robust partnerships we can have at the local level the more success we can have.”
