To strengthen Georgia’s already tough gang-laws, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp announces information for new anti-gang legislation.
One bill would expand the reach of university police departments to 880 yards past school property.
This would allow police departments at Georgia State and Georgia Tech to do more to combat crime on the outer portions of their campuses.
Georgia State University Police Department Chief Joseph Spillane says their current boundaries by state law are 1500 feet from Georgia State facilities.
“We work in conjunction with our local partners, Marta Police, Atlanta Police, the downtown improvement district to make sure that area up to 1500 feet from campus is safe and secure. So we kind of monitor those areas, not just in our buildings but outside our buildings and up to 1500 feet,” Chief Spillane says.
The bill would add an additional 1140 feet to the boundaries.
“When we count just downtown, its been down last year quite a bit. We do have issues in the downtown space with car break-ins up in areas like Peachtree Center,” Spillane says. “We’re very good in our parking decks because we have officers that patrol them quite frequently and are in the decks quite frequently.”
A 2019 safety report from GSUPD shows crimes increased in 2018 for the last three years. And between 2017 to 2018, robberies have dropped nearly 50 percent.
“So if you did pull a map of crime and you put Georgia State on that map and looked around us, you would see a splattering of crimes around us that may be happening out of our jurisdiction and in the city’s jurisdiction,” Spillane says. “Which right now, we’re concerned with our jurisdiction and 1500 feet from it and making sure that we protect our students, faculty, staff and visitors that are on this campus.”
The bill would also add lawyers to the Georgia Bureau of Investigations, through a new legal division. These lawyers would be special prosecutors for gang crimes. Right now, the agency only investigates crimes.
Opponents have been critical to the bills, saying the focus should be directed on funding prevention methods.
But before the bill becomes a law, it needs to be approved by the Georgia House and Senate.
Note: This story was written for PRN, the student-led news station at Georgia State University.
