JONESBORO, Ga. — Clayton County is tracking a significant expected decrease in homicides for 2023. 11Alive's Dawn White sat down exclusively with the Clayton County sheriff and police chief Thursday about the reasons they believe are behind the drop.
The trend no one wants to see is finally turning around.
“If you look back at the previous two years with the onset of the pandemic in 2020, we saw consecutive annual increases in homicides," Clayton County Police Chief Kevin Roberts said.
Those at Clayton County Police said their data shows an anticipated decrease in homicides by 32% in 2023 compared to last year.
Police report 35 homicides in 2020, 49 in 2021, a high of 59 homicides in 2022, and so far this year, homicides have claimed the lives of 40 people.
“We kept preaching the message of de-escalation, finding, separating, and finding your space, and we hope that that is reflected in the decrease that we're anticipating here this year in 2023," Roberts said.
Chief Roberts believes another reason for the decrease is the county's CAGE unit formed in 2022. It's a partnership between county and municipal police departments.
“It was about removing guns and deterring violent crime through that gun retrieval, also supplemented by our public safety partnership with our sheriff's office and the sheriff deploying his tactical units," Roberts said.
Clayton County Sheriff Levon Allen believes that collaboration among police departments is helping law enforcement reduce homicides.
“It's a collaborative effort between all the municipalities in Clayton County," Allen said. “Sometimes, I may text the chief two or three times a day, or I may call him. We speak. We collaborate, and not only are we on the same page, our officers are on the same page.”
Both Sheriff Allen and Chief Roberts think having more officers and deputies on the streets is helping to lower crime.
“I was able to go from 62 sworn deputies to about 87, so now with those 87 deputies, we're able to supplement and help the police department lower crime," Allen said.
“We removed more drugs off the streets, and we take more felons into custody," Roberts said. "Clayton County will be a safer place moving forward.”
The sheriff and police chief said in 2024, they plan on having more visibility on the streets and hope to fill open positions with the goal of continuing to reduce homicides in Clayton County.