Kemp Georgia budget includes money for gang task force in Columbus; One former lawmaker pushed hard for it

ATLANTA ( WRBL ) — Tuesday in Atlanta, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law a $36.1 Billion budget.

In that budget is about $5 million dollars to combat criminal street gangs in Columbus and West Georgia.

State Rep. Richard Smith was the Columbus lawmaker who made this happen – though he didn’t live to see it.

Smith died unexpectedly in January – a month into the General Assembly session that produced this budget.

As the House Rule Committee Chairman, his fingerprints were all over the final product. And in his final days he was laser focused on crime.

“Our goal is to be such a force in Columbus that those people say I don’t want to fight this. I am going to go somewhere else,” Smith said in an interview with WRBL shortly after the session started.

Smith was talking about $4.8 million dollars he had requested for a nine-person Georgia Bureau of Investigation gang unit in Columbus. Additional money was allocated for a gang prosecution unit prosecutor and investigator to work in Columbus out of the Attorney General’s Office.

Tuesday with a stroke of Gov. Brian Kemp’s pen, it became law.

“Richard was pressing us from Day 1 about having a GBI Task presence because we came and met with them to talk about the resources we had available for local governments,” Kemp said. “And he was, ‘We want one of those here.’ And when we looked into that it made sense and we did that.”

The governor said that Smith’s concerns about crime were front and center in the decision to start up the GBI unit this summer.

“He was very concerned about gang activity in Columbus and the West side of our state,” Kemp said. “You know, it’s an initiative I ran and campaigned on. So, it was a priority of the Speaker and I to get this in because it’s something that Richard talked to local law enforcement, the local prosecutors about. We are glad to do that. It will be a great resource for that part of the state.”

And it translated into $4.8 million in and additional funds to locate a prosecutor and investigator out of the Attorney General’s Office in Columbus.

It is a show of force aimed at getting the attention of those who are in criminal street gangs and commit crimes.

Cara Convery leads the state gang prosecution unit.

“I think there is a gang issue in that community that impacts ultimately the quality of life and the overall sense of public safety,” she said. “And that unfortunately is at the hands of criminal street gang members and the work that’s being done by those enterprises. And so yes, in a meaningful way that impacts the community and I am excited to be able to get in and be a force for good and force multiply the work that’s already happening in that fight.”

There will be nine GBI agents working gang cases in Columbus and the surrounding community. They will be working in concert with the Columbus Police Department and the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office.

“You are going to see more activity,” Attorney General Chris Carr said. “You are going to see more awareness of the issue, as well. But again, I think it’s critically important to acknowledge that it really is leveraging federal, state and local law enforcement and our prosecutorial capabilities to make sure we keep people safe.”

Convery scored three murder and gang convictions on a Wilson Apartments shooting late last year. She says this is a huge deal.

“Partnership is really everything in the work that I am doing,” Convery said. “And to be able to concentrate on the community in a resource-intensive way to let people know we are really here in a meaningful way. We are not just coming in to try a case and leave, that we are invested in the community that’s huge for us.”

The budget the governor signed today has raises for 300-thousand educators and state workers, plus more money for education and mental health programs.

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