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Deputy's Killing Sparks Talk of Gangs, Drugs: Police Chief and Bibb Sheriff Set to Meet This Week

Posted on: Monday, 3 April 2006, 09:01 CDT

By Tim Sturrock, The Macon Telegraph, Ga.

Apr. 3--The shooting death of a Bibb County sheriff's deputy last month has pushed a long-simmering community issue back into the public consciousness.

The killing of deputy Joseph Whitehead, fatally wounded during a predawn drug raid in west Macon, has prompted renewed discussion of gangs and how law enforcement plans to deal with them.

This week, Macon Police Chief Mike Burns and Bibb County Sheriff Jerry Modena are scheduled to meet privately to discuss Whitehead's March 23 death and problems with drugs and gangs.

In the days that followed Whitehead's death, there has been increased tension between the police department and sheriff's office about statements Modena has made about crime in Macon and about how to cooperate in the future.

While Modena wants the city and county to form a joint gang-drug task force, Burns is pushing ahead with plans for a police department-run gang task force. Burns suggested that county deputies could join the city's separate drug unit, which would work closely with the gang task force he's working to establish.

"I'd appreciate any help we can get," Burns said. "You can never get too many."

But Modena said he won't support his deputies joining the city's drug unit. Because his office has broader jurisdiction, Modena said a joint gang-drug task force would be more effective countywide if the sheriff's office oversaw it.

"There are drugs out there, and the most effective way to go after them is for us to come together," Modena said.

Adding to the tension, Burns has criticized Modena for statements he made about gangs and drugs within Macon city limits.

Burns said Modena made blanket statements about crime problems in the city.

"It gives the impression that in the city of Macon, you have a drug problem everywhere and that's not true," Burns said. "We have local gangs, and we have areas where they have drug problems. We know that. We've identified that. We're addressing it."

Burns said Modena's statements don't help the problem, are bad for the city's image and make it sound as if his officers aren't doing their jobs well.

Taking a conciliatory approach Friday, Modena said he wasn't aware he had offended Burns.

He said drugs such as methamphetamine, crack and even prescription medication are pervasive and widely available across the county, not just within city borders.

"It's basically all over," Modena said. "If it makes (Burns) feel I'm pointing the finger at Macon, I'm not. It's Macon and Bibb County. We have a problem, and what I'm trying to do is bring attention to that problem."

The sheriff said gangs may not have the same community penetration as drugs, but gangs and drugs tend to go hand-in-hand. He said drug problems exist in all metropolitan areas in Georgia.

Modena said any disagreement about his statements about crime in Macon may come down to semantics. He suggested that Burns is being overly sensitive.

DISBANDED FORCE

WAS EFFECTIVE IN FIGHT

Burns said the five-person gang task force he is forming will develop a database of gangs, educate youths about the dangers of gangs and help prosecutors on gang cases.

The unit also will investigate cases that are thought to be gang-related and will work closely with the police drug unit and offer intelligence about gangs in the city, Burns said.

Burns said he already has agreed to send one officer to a multijurisdictional drug task force headed by the Bibb County Sheriff's Office, which includes members from Jones, Peach and Crawford counties.

Macon police Lt. Carl Fletcher said Whitehead's death has resurrected discussions of the gang issue.

"We haven't addressed it in a couple of years as diligently as (we did) in the late '90s, and it's a tragedy and a travesty that it was brought back to the forefront by deputy Whitehead's death," Fletcher said.

Fletcher said a now-disbanded police gang task force was effective in the fight.

During the late 1990s, that task force arrested more than 1,200 documented gang members in Macon for various offenses, he said.

Gangs in Macon don't have the same level of organization as gangs in large cities, but the potential for violence is still there, he said.

"An AK-47 in Miami is a AK-47 in Macon," Fletcher said. "They kill just as dead."

Having a police gang unit would allow city police to target gang members more aggressively and build cases against them.

Macon Mayor Jack Ellis said something needs to be done about drugs and youth violence. He would not specifically use the word "gangs" to describe the problem.

"I'm going to call it a criminal enterprise," he said. "That's what I'm going to call it. No one has to tell me we have a violent city because we do."

Authorities need to work on prevention, enforcement and treatment of drug addicts to solve the problem, Ellis said.

Tim Sturrock can be reached at 744-4347 or tsturrock@macontel.com [mailto:tsturrock@macontel.com].

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Macon Telegraph, Ga.

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Source: The Macon Telegraph (Macon, Ga.)

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