Police
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Athens-Clarke County
Athens Mayor: No New Developments Regarding Drug-Related Inmate Deaths
There are no new developments in the investigations regarding the deaths of four inmates in the Athens-Clarke County Jail between April and July 2025, Mayor Kelly Girtz said Tuesday. Two of these inmates died of apparent drug overdoses. Before the death of the fourth inmate, Clarke County Sheriff John Williams…
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Athens-Clarke County
The Opioid Crisis: America’s Last Concern, But Happening in Athens
Meet Americans’ top three concerns for 2022: strengthening the economy, reducing healthcare costs and dealing with COVID-19. At the bottom of this 18-item long list of concerns lies drug addiction, according to the Pew Research Center. A Continuous Public Health Emergency This means in urban areas 29 out of 100,000…
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Criminal Justice
Madison County Increases Pay For Sheriff’s Office Employees To Help Hire More Officers
The Madison County Board of Commissioners passed a funding budget that included allocations to increase pay for employees of the Madison County Sheriff’s Office on Jan. 25, and the effect of this extra money brings more than just cash value — it provides hope for the Madison County Sheriff’s Office…
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Athens-Clarke County
Athens-Clarke County Police Sound Alarm After String Of Car Break-Ins
Police have noticed an unsettling trend in recent weeks. The amount of car break-ins has been increasing. Officials said while the actual number of “entering autos” is down year after year, the trend is still alarming because of the increase in windows being broken. Rhett Rodgers is a member…
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Jackson County
Real-Life ‘Blue Bloods’: Jackson County Family Dedicated to Service
Captain Jim Askey’s intricately decorated office depicts a lifetime of service. Jim enlisted in the Marines at 17 years old, and when he returned to civilian life, he joined the Atlanta Police Department in 1988. He followed in the footsteps of his father, who was a Marine before him, and…
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Athens-Clarke County
National Drug Take Back Day Addresses Vaping Crisis With Local Collections
The Drug Enforcement Administration has been combatting the misuse of controlled prescription drugs with National Drug Take Back Day since 2009, but this year’s collection day is particularly notable. For the first time ever, collection sites are accepting e-cigarettes and vaping devices for disposal in addition to unused medications, according…
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Athens-Clarke County
Understanding the Fight Against School Violence in Georgia
May 20, 1999 seemingly began like any other Friday for 15-year-old Jacob Jones. But on this particular morning, a lingering photo assignment deadline forced Jones to forgo his weekly ritual of Friday breakfast at Chick-fil-A with friends and arrive at school much earlier than usual. Aside from skipping breakfast, it…
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Athens-Clarke County
‘It Was A Big Burden’: Life as a Former-911 Dispatcher
When Megan Bocanegra started working as a 911 dispatcher, she expected it to be temporary. She’d just finished her bachelor’s degree at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and debated whether to attend graduate school. In 2005, she decided to work at the communications center in her hometown of…
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Athens-Clarke County
DUI Arrests Decreasing Each Year in Athens-Clarke County
Since 2007, the number of DUI arrests in Athens-Clarke County has decreased steadily from 827 cases in 2007 to just 350 cases in 2018. Two factors may contribute to this decline: a decline in the number of police officers and fewer people choosing to drive drunk. Since 2016, the…
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Athens-Clarke County
All-Seeing Eyes: Surveillance Tech is Getting More Efficient
For some, it comforts them to know that if someone in their community commits a crime, police officers in the area could use the technology available to them to catch them. For others, advances in surveillance technology means that their privacy could be in danger. There are approximately 30…