The day after a Wrens store clerk was shot and killed by a 15-year-old youth, area law enforcement met with local leaders at the behest of a preacher to discuss the rise in gun-related crimes across the area.
The incident in Wrens was the fifth apparently unrelated shooting in the county in the last three months and the third shooting that ended in a death in the last 10 months.
Rev. Phillip Broomfield, pastor of Zion Baptist in Millen who is also a life-long resident of Louisville, said he was led to host the meeting bringing law enforcement together with local leaders to address recent rise in violent activity.
“When you are one there is unity and strength,” Broomfield told those gathered. “What if we come together, bring our resources and come together with our emphasis and our energy? We could solve some problems. We can do more. We can be more. We can make a difference.”
For more than an hour, representatives from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, Wrens Police Department, Louisville Police Department, Wadley Police Department, the Jefferson County Commissioners, the City of Louisville and the City of Wrens talked about the violence they are witnessing, their opinions on how those problems are developing and what they feel the community can do as a whole to address those issues.
“A lot of time, children are getting in trouble and the parents are supporting them,” said Sheriff Gary Hutchins. “We have counseling for children, but I think it should be ordered from the judge that the parents should go through counseling along with the child. You can counsel a child, but if they go home to the same atmosphere.”
The sheriff went on to say that when a child gets in trouble, sometimes the parents seem more interested in keeping that child out of jail or how much the child’s incarceration, fines and such will cost them instead addressing why the crime was committed in the first place.
“Looks like the churches and the school is trying to raise the children,” Hutchins said. “The parents aren’t raising the children. Something has to be done at home. There has to be some kind of discipline.”
“They say that we have already lost this generation who is shooting at everybody. Why did we lose them? It’s because somebody quit raising them,” said Louisville Chief of Police Jimmy Miller. “We deal with them when they are wrong. Police can’t fix this problem. It’s a family problem. It’s a society problem. We have to deal with them when they screw up and we’re the enemy to start with in the eyes of most of the people we’re talking about.”
The police chiefs and sheriffs’ deputies talked about what they have seen as a loss of trust between the community and law enforcement.
Chief Deputy TJ Moore said that when he first joined the Sheriff’s Office, most of the deputies were from the area and were pretty well known throughout the areas they patrolled. He talked about citizens on the scene of potentially volatile incidents who spoke up and told onlookers to trust him, that he was a good man and would be fair.
Over the years it has become harder and harder to recruit and retain deputies and today, Moore said, about half of the people serving his department are from surrounding counties.
Wrens Police Chief John Maynard suggested law enforcement agencies create a citizens’ review board, as they have in Wrens. These review boards can serve as liaisons between the community and law enforcement.
“The bottom line is we have to do our best to be transparent and gain the trust of the people,” Maynard said. “If you want to make a change, you’ve got to get in front of the community. You’ve got to gain trust and it is in every single interaction. You have to go out of your way to have those interactions.”
Rev. Broomfield called the meeting a start and Commission Chair Mitchell McGraw recommended the group continue to meet, continue to bring in other resources and find ways to collaborate with other agencies and individuals and organizations in the community under a title like, Concerned Citizens for Stop the Violence.
Everyone agreed that future meetings should be announced in advance and open to anyone who wants to attend.