AMERICUS — A pledge to clean up the criminal element in this area made by Capt. James “Buddy” Johnson, commander of Troop G, Georgia State Patrol, in December, is already in the works. Johnson, speaking at the funeral services for slain officers, Nick Smarr of the Americus Police Department, and Jody Smith of Georgia Southwestern State University Police, said that his troopers would be more of a presence in Sumter County “then ever before.”
On Friday and Saturday nights, Georgia State yroopers from the Troop G area (which encompasses 23 counties in Southwest Georgia), along with the Americus Police Department, Sumter County Sheriff’s Office, Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, West Central Georgia Traffic Enforcement Network, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Georgia Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division, and the Georgia Department of Community Supervision conducted concentrated patrols in the Americus area.
The patrols and safety checkpoints resulted in 19 DUI arrests, 18 drug and drug-related object arrests, 18 child safety restraint and seatbelt violations, 14 unlicensed driver arrests, and nine suspended license arrests. Troopers issued a total of 103 citations and 68 warnings. There was also one felony drug arrest and four wanted subjects were taken into custody, according to SFC Ed Odom, commander, Georgia State Patrol Post 10, Americus.
— Beth Alston