Our Vision for Griffin: Pledges and Priorities 2

Many feel like Griffin is full of Crime, but can't really expound on the issues. Griffin does have a crime problem. Most days walking our streets to go to your favorite place to eat, won't be a problem. Common sense and common courtesy will be enough to keep you and your loved ones safe. But if you do a quick search, you'll find Griffin sits around the 6th most dangerous cities in Georgia, depending on the source. Scoring more violent crime per capita than most neighboring cities like McDonough and Fayetteville.

This really matters when trying to bring in quality jobs into the area. Employers generally look into the crime rates to get an idea of what to expect the employee pool looks like. It doesn't matter that they could walk to Slices from City Hall without being mugged. What matters to them is that those basic web searches show as our first impression. No one here wants Griffin to have a high crime rate, but if we want to grow Griffin to be a shining gem of the south, that we all know it can be, then we're going to have to bring that rate way down and keep it down.

Our citizens have mixed feelings about our law enforcement officers and, if we are going to fix our crime rate, that needs to change. Many of the peace officers I have met in Griffin have been remarkable and extra patient with me, but I know that is not everyone's story. Crime is a community issue. We all have to pitch in, and the peace officers do a lot of the heavy lifting. We all have to help them with their job in the way a citizen should and in return we should know without a doubt that they are holding themselves, and each other, accountable for being the face of law and order.

If we want that old timey "Mayberry" feel we need our officers to trust the public as much as they want to be trusted by the public. We already have community outreach events for the public to meet the officers that patrol our streets (Shop-with-a-cop, Coffee with a Cop, etc...) I think we need to have officers on foot in the downtown area again. Not because it's riddled with crime, but because it's a way for the public to learn how friendly and helpful our officers are. If an officer isn't friendly and helpful enough to be put on foot rotation, it means they aren't the kind of officers we should be expecting to react well to a random traffic stop, either. It won't change things overnight, but I believe it's a great next step in bridging the trust between officers and those in our community that are terrified of them.