Rallying together

The Warner Robins community gathered together Tuesday evening at Southside Baptist Church on 1040 South Houston Lake Road to discuss what needs to be done to enhance the safety of the city since last month’s unusual crimes of three homicides, occurring in a span of a week.

The event was called “Enough is Enough” and was organized by David Reid and Cody Smith, and served as a public forum where leaders of the city of Warner Robins as well as citizens had a chance to express their views and opinions on the latest crime activities.

Reid advertised the event on Facebook that drew such immediate support that he was able to secure well-known figures like Mayor Randy Toms, Police Chief Brett Evans, Houston County District Attorney George Hartwig and Chairman of Macon Regional Crimestoppers Warren Selby Jr. to speak.

“We have to go out and be proactive and get involved in the community. When officers hold events, we have to attend and ask the officers what they need from us,” said Reid, touching on the support the community can give to local officers to make their job easier. “It’s not about telling the chief what he needs to do but asking him what can we do and where can I help.”

While speaking to the crowd at hand, Reid informed citizens that the violent crime rate in Warner Robins is currently one of the highest in the nation, across communities of both large and small sizes. Warner Robins’ overall crime rate is 82% higher than the average of crimes committed in Georgia and is 118% higher than the national coverage.

See the pictured chart for some alarming crime stats that the Warner Robins Police Department found comparing 2015 to 2016 that Reid presented to the crowd.

One of the main topics of the event was the community’s longing desire to staff more police officers, which Mayor Toms addressed.

“We have outstanding officers in the city of Warner Robins and they are doing a great job with what they have,” Toms expressed. “They’ve been understaffed for a long time and everyone knows that. Recently for the first time in almost 20 years we added five new budgeted police officer positions. I’m not crazy enough to think that’s enough but that’s a start.”

“I want to give you some factual numbers from 2000. In 2000, the population in Warner Robins was 48,000 and we answered 59,900 calls in 23.8 square miles. Jump forward to 2016 and the population is 74,000, the square mileage is 36.75 and the number of calls we received was 82,059. I’m proud of the Warner Robins Police Department because while the number of calls have gone up, we have still been able to respond to your calls, and solve homicides and cold cases with the same number of officers we’ve had since 2000,” said Chief Evans with pride.

The three murders that took place in January was the worst month for murder in this county since 2001, the year Hartwig took over as prosecutor he said. “I can tell you I don’t think were going to be having three to four murders every month for the rest of the year. No doubt about it,” said Hartwig, assuring the crowd. “That is not the normal for our community.”

The Second Amendment, which is the right to bare arms, has been a hot subject matter of late within the city and while there continues to be differences of opinion from Warner Robins residents whether they should or should not carry around a gun (preferably someone who has a concealed-carry permit), Hartwig made it very clear the responsibility that comes with owning a weapon.

“When you use your gun, make sure you know how to use a gun,” said Hartwig to the crowd.

Leading up to the Enough is Enough event, Reid had a couple of poll questions for residents relating to the increase of crime in Warner Robins on the Facebook event page, however there were two that stood out that clearly signaled the state of alarm the city is presently in…

Do you feel safe in Warner Robins?

Yes- 46% No- 54%

Does Warner Robins need more police officers?

Yes- 91% No- 9%

Towards the end, Mayor Toms emphasized that he’s always opened to fresh ideas that can help the city and stressed that with the support of the Warner Robins community, things will improve.

“It takes a community to make a safe community,” said Toms.