ATLANTA (AP) – Republican leaders are promising quick legislative action to fight violent crime in Atlanta as the House begins hearings on crime in Georgia’s largest city.
Gov. Brian Kemp told the House Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee on Monday that he would include anti-crime proposals for lawmakers to consider this fall when they return for a special session to redraw electoral districts.
House Speaker David Ralston of Blue Ridge said House leaders will propose $2 million to pay for 20 new state troopers to focus on tactical response and drunken driving enforcement in Atlanta. Ralston wants another $1 million to double to the size of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s anti-gang task force and Attorney General Chris Carr’s anti-human-trafficking task force.
The hearing came days after Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms proposed a $70 million crime-fighting plan that includes 250 more police officers, working to alter violent behavior and tracking repeat offenders to make sure they’re convicted. She also wants to install 10,000 more streetlights, crack down on illegal after-hours clubs and add 250 license plate reader cameras. The Atlanta City Council would have to approve the spending.
Ralston said in remarks delivered by video from Savannah that he didn’t want “to point blame or have a political discussion.” But both Kemp and Carr criticized some elected officials for their approaches to crime.