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Chatham DA forms crime coalition to fight gang activity in wake of Savannah mass shooting

Savannah Morning News - 6/25/2021

Jun. 25—In a room packed with law enforcement, community and faith leaders, and elected officials, Chatham County District Attorney Shalena Cook Jones made one thing clear: "Anyone who is involved in gangs and guns, you are not wanted here."

Jones addressed a crowd of about 50 people Thursday evening as she and five of her staffers unveiled the newly formed Racketeering and Organized Crime Coalition (ROCC), which will focus on addressing gang activity and other forms of organized crime.

The countywide coalition — Jones stopped short of calling it another task force — will share resources on organized crime, develop a protocol to improve response times to incidents and create a coordinated response team to dispatch in response to gang activity and mass shootings.

The group will also work on community outreach and education efforts and develop strategies to protect victims and witnesses and prevent retaliation.

The coalition comes in the wake of the deadly double homicide in the River Pointe I neighborhood on June 11, which Jones called "utterly and absolutely inexcusable." The mass shooting also left six people injured.

Jones would not say if she believed the shooting was gang-related but emphasized the DA's "office is fully committed to shutting gang operations down, getting guns off the streets and prosecuting these cases. We will spare no expense."

In the past two years, there have been 26 gang-related arrests locally resulting in a total of 30 charges, according to data from Phoenix, a database used by the Chatham County Detention Center. The database also indicates there have been 22 RICO arrests with a total of 24 charges in that same timeframe.

Additionally, the DA's office has indicted 70 cases identified as "gang cases" since 2010. The data was provided during Thursday's meeting.

At Thursday's meeting, held at the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum, the DA's office addressed some of the challenges they've faced in addressing gang-related crime.

Part of the reason the coalition was created was to facilitate better communication between law enforcement.

Assistant District Attorney Christian Stolfe, who runs the office's gang and guns unit, gave the example of a detective for Chatham County police not realizing that a car connected to a case they were investigating was also tied to crimes investigated by Savannah police.

"We need communication. Every agency communicates with us. We have relationships with law enforcement," Stolfe said. "Since we have those relationships, let us help with the exchange of information. That's at the essence of this group."

Another issue is that departments are operating out of different databases. Chief ADA Michael Edwards noted the Chatham County Detention Center uses Phoenix, a database that tracks arrest data. The DA's office uses an internal case management system called Tracker.

Tracker shows that the DA's office has indicted 25 cases for gang activity under the state's gang statute. But Edwards said investigating gang-related crimes is more nuanced than that because some agencies view gang activity differently and charge accordingly.

He added that the aforementioned data is a reflection of that.

"What it means is this: there has not been a clear policy on how we're identifying these issues, which makes it harder to track," Edwards said.

The DA's office also raised the concerns of retaliation against family and victims of gang-related crimes, saying that this also impedes their efforts to arrest offenders as it leads to people fearful of speaking out against crime.

"We understand that people show up at hospitals to finish the job. We need extra manpower and security to make sure that the victims were being treated and those hospitals are safe," Jones said.

She added that many victims and witnesses are sprayed with bullets.

"If we say that we're committed to public safety, that means that when we find those victims, we do have to dispatch our victims and witness team because you can't show up a year-and-a-half later saying 'Testify against this monster and help me solve this case' when we didn't even have the wherewithal to show up and support them when their house got shot up," Jones said.

Jones said she is concerned about gunfire at the victims' funerals.

"We are gravely concerned about that because if history is any indicator, we know that retaliatory violence takes place at a number of places, funerals being one of them," Jones said during a press conference with media after the coalition gathering. "But we have been fortunate enough to, hopefully tonight, have furthered our relationship with law enforcement. So hopefully, we'll have the manpower and resources to be on guard should anything happen."

Jones and her staff said the coalition is not meant to supplement gang units and diversion opportunities created by other law enforcement and stakeholders. Instead, the group seeks to eliminate silos in crime prevention measures.

Much of the discussion focused on law enforcement efforts, but Jones emphasized residents, such as community leaders, faith leaders, activists, and healthcare officials, play a crucial role in the coalition in what she called community-based prosecution.

"I want to talk to everybody in the community like faith leaders. Why? Because Big Momma who knows who shot the victim probably goes to your church, and she is more likely to talk to you about what happened than she is to call the DA's office," Jones said. "We are talking about communities helping each other. This is what we call community-based prosecution and it's vital. It is important."

Organizations and groups interested in the coalition are asked to appoint someone from their group and send an email to daroc@chathamcounty.gov. Members of the coalition will be asked to sign a memorandum of understanding and a confidentiality agreement before sensitive case information will be shared.

The coalition will meet again at 6:30 p.m. on July 8. Plans are to meet monthly.

Raisa is a Watchdog and Investigative Reporter for The Savannah Morning News. Contact her at rhabersham@gannett.com.

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