Drug & Gang Unit merger discussed by Albany City Commission & Dougherty Co. law enforcement

ALBANY, Ga. – Albany and Dougherty County law enforcement are going to be coming together soon to take on two of the biggest problems in the county…those being gang-crimes and drug trafficking.

The merger was brought up during Tuesday night’s Albany City Commission meeting, and Ward 6 Commissioner, Demetrius Young about the planned merger for the two agencies.

“I think it came at a time where we are more so seeing some uptick in gang activity. There’s been a lot of talk about, at the state level, putting more resources towards fighting gangs, and we thought that this would be apropos to getting with that movement coming to the state,” said Demetrius Young, Ward 6 Commissioner, City of Albany.

Commissioner Young says that with gang related crimes comes drug trafficking as he says cartels are using gangs to move drugs.

That’s why pooling the two agencies’ resources together could stand to solve the problem.

“I think the biggest gift will be the information, that is shared between them. Because they will be in one unit, they’ll be able to talk about whatever contacts they have, whatever tips they have and things like that,” said Commissioner Young.

As the Albany Police Dept. and the Dougherty Co. Sheriff’s Office continue to work on the merger, Commissioner Young spoke about what’s going to be next to ensure a smooth transition for both units.

“The next steps will actually be between those law enforcement professionals who are going to decide what staff is going to take what positions and kind of figure out how they’re going to merge those units. But that’ll happen with the law enforcement professionals,” said Commissioner Young.

And once the two agencies complete the merger, Commissioner Young is confident that progress will be made…

Especially as he puts it with drugs becoming worse.

“I think again, there should be some efficiencies, and hopefully some things that will allow us to fight gang activity and drugs. Because we know that the drugs are getting worse on our streets. And we know that a lot of that is taking place because of gang activity,” said Commissioner Young.

With both law enforcement agencies coming together to take on these dual threats, they hope that with their combined resources that they’ll finally be able to turn the tide against two of the biggest problems in the county.

CBS 44 News reached out to the Dougherty County Sheriff Kevin Sproul for further comment about the merger of the gang unit and drug task force.

He was not able to comment at this time.

Brian Roche reporting.

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