Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024
Good morning. In this week’s newsletter, we’re reporting on the merits behind a weapons detection system purchased by Glynn County schools, how Savannah officials are re-upping crime gun reform in the state capitol and a trial date finally set in the case against former Brunswick-area district attorney Jackie Johnson.
Questions, comments or story ideas? Reach out to us at staff@thecurrentga.org.
NEWS: EDUCATION, PUBLIC SAFETY
Glynn schools buy weapon scanners
On Tuesday, the Glynn County Board of Education approved the $858,358.86 purchase of a portable weapons detection system to “screen people, backpacks, purses, and bags for objects that could be used as a weapon,” according to the district’s agenda.
They will be rolled out in all schools within the district, according to Brittany Dozier, the district’s public information officer. It was paid for out of the ESPLOST IV sales tax fund.
The Opengate detection systems, made by Ohio-based metal detector manufacturer CEIA, have spread to school campuses across Georgia and the country. As education administrators look to strengthen safety amid an increase in school-related gun violence, the $3.1 billion-a-year school security industry has offered a solution.
Experts interviewed by The 74, a nonprofit education news outlet, say that Opengate’s scanners and others like it are largely unproven and costly responses to gun violence. One expert likened CEIA’s scanners to regular metal detectors that are just more sensitive.
NEWS: PUBLIC SAFETY
Savannah (again) seeks gun auction reform
Savannah city officials are considering adding a familiar item to its yearly legislative wish list: letting cities decide for themselves what to do with crime guns.
Under a Georgia law passed in 2012, local governments are required to return forfeited firearms to “innocent owners” and auction off unclaimed firearms to gun dealers to sell back to the public. Those are the only options. Under Mayor Van Johnson, Savannah has declined to sell crime weapons and held on to them instead.
The city’s annual legislative agenda includes proposals that the city and its lobbyist will push state lawmakers to pass during the upcoming legislative session. During a workshop meeting last week, city leaders debated putting the crime gun rule back on its agenda. It’s been there for years.
“We think it’s unmentionable that we would have weapons that might have been used in crimes before and then we’re putting them back out on the streets to be sold again at discounted rates,” Johnson said at the Nov. 7 workshop, “Which of course we know funds some of our challenges.”
Despite this continued stance, the city does not feel the same way about police firearms that are sold to dealers and then back to the public, as The Current revealed in October 2023.
NEWS: COURTS
ICYMI: Trial date set for Jackie Johnson
Jackie Johnson, the former Brunswick-area district attorney, will have her day in court.
Senior Judge John Turner of Bulloch County Superior Court set a date for Johnson’s jury trial to begin during the week of January 21, 2025. The semi-retired judge has been unable to schedule court hearings since the case began more than three years ago, due to Johnson’s attorney representing a client in Atlanta in a sprawling racketeering case.
That case, which The Current has been reporting for over a year as causing the conflict in Glynn, came to a close at the end of October. Turner acted quickly to get the former Brunswick Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s criminal case back on track.
Johnson pleaded not guilty and has been out on bond since September 2021, when a grand jury indicted her on charges of interfering in the death investigation of Ahmaud Arbery.
There has been a notable lack of evidence presented in the case due to the delays. At a motions hearing on Dec. 11, the public will get its first glimpses as to why the prosecution believes Johnson improperly coordinated with the men who killed Arbery.
The latest school ‘weapons detection’ tech can miss serious threats, experts say
Detection machines going into schools can miss knives and set off excessive false alarms, as district officials look for ways to curb rising incidents of violence on American school campuses.
500 new police guns will help failing recruits pass academy, Savannah brass says
The Savannah Police Department and city leaders made misleading claims advocating for 500 new guns with red-dot sights. One reason was that the sights will help failing recruits pass the police academy.
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The red-cockaded woodpecker’s population had dwindled to around 1,470 clusters when federal officials decided to classify the bird as endangered back in 1970. But decades of efforts to preserve the species’ habitats have substantially increased the bird’s numbers. The repopulation effort was so successful, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, that […]
After Trump’s election, future murky for Fulton RICO case against president and Georgia allies
The Georgia Court of Appeals’ scheduled Dec. 5 hearing on the latest development in the Fulton County racketeering indictments of President-elect Donald Trump and his allies remains on track despite the results of last week’s presidential election. The state appellate court is set to hear arguments next month on the request from the […]
University system sets enrollment record
ATLANTA – The University System of Georgia has hit an all-time high for student enrollment this fall. Nearly 365,000 students are enrolled at the system’s 26 public colleges and universities, an increase of more than 20,000, or 5.9%, compared to last fall, Angela Bell, the system’s vice chancellor for research and policy analysis, […]
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