COLUMBUS, Ga. (WTVM) – Sheriff Greg Countryman and Mayor Skip Henderson say the proof is in the numbers.
“We have seen some of our numbers go down. It appears to be down about 40 to 42 percent, and overall first-party crimes are down about 11 percent, this year compared to last year,” Columbus Mayor Skip Henderson said. .
“Last year, we seized over 179 firearms from people who did not need them. To date, we have seized 249 weapons,” Muscogee County Sheriff Greg Countryman said.
They both tell us that to get numbers that low is like investing in high-tech crime-fighting tools.
“The board has invested about 3 point 5 million so far out of an $8 million spend trying to deploy the technology. So we have mobile cameras that are extremely high-tech that allow us to make stronger cases.
The Sheriff’s Department will have a new crime-fighting tool that will test bullets in gun violence cases.
“If there’s a gun holster there, we can get that holster and find out if that gun was used in another crime in another state or in another city. Many agencies use this technology to solve many murders,” says Countryman.
The technology allows the two agencies, the police and the sheriff’s office, to work closely together.
“We think when we can collaborate with other agencies that have a bigger reach than us, that’s been a huge key to our success,” Countryman says.
“We work with Georgia State Patrol and other agencies, including the Georgia State Attorney’s Office,” Henderson says, working together to keep crime low.
“We send a strong message to those in the community that if you commit crimes in Muscogee County, not only are we going to prosecute you, but we are also not going to make it easy for you,” Countryman says.
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