New surveillance cameras will help Eastman prosecute gang violence, other crime

The Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency awarded the city of Eastman a $57,000 Gang Activity Prosecution (GAP) Grant. The money will be used to purchase and install 12 new surveillance cameras.

EASTMAN, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — The city of Eastman was awarded a $57,400 Gang Activity Prosecution (GAP) Grant from the gang activity prosecution grant by the Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency, which is being used for the purchase and installation of 12 new surveillance cameras.

“We’ve had a number of shootings, and we have to rely on other businesses for their cameras,” said Billy Cooper, Eastman Police Department Police Chief. 

Cooper says the police department has too often had to rely on footage from cameras belonging to nearby businesses and residents while trying to solve crimes. Linda Criblez, Deputy Director of the Georgia Emergency Management Agency and Homeland Security Agency, says assisting even Georgia’s smaller communities like Eastman is essential to combating gang violence.

“Gangs are very sophisticated on social media,” Criblez said. “They are mobile. They go to different parts of the state to hide out.” 

Criblez says a 2024 Georgia Gang Investigators Association survey showed just how much the threat of gang violence and activity persist across the state.

“The Georgia Gang Investigators Association did a survey last year and looked at the 159 county school districts. 155 of those 159 had gangs prevalent in the schools,” Criblez said. 

Spencer Barron, the City Manager of Eastman, says the downtown area is growing, but with the growth comes more crime, including vandalism. He says getting the grant for the 12 new cameras was vitally important and cost effective as training and hiring 12 new officers would cost the city around $1.2 million.

“People have to feel safe or they’re not going to want to move their families here, they’re not going to want to open businesses here,” Barron said. “I believe the cameras and the extra efforts that the police department is putting into Eastman are going to pay dividends in helping us continue to grow the city in the years to come.”

Cooper is hopeful the cameras will make life easier for him, his fellow policemen and the city as a whole.

“I know we have had, in the past, a rash of entering autos, and that traumatizes a person,” Cooper said. “It does give the victims some closure whenever we do catch these people and arrest them, versus they’re still out there, they’re going to come back. So yeah, I think it’s going to help them sleep at night very well.”

While Cooper acknowledges that the cameras won’t catch everything, he believes they’re a step in the right direction. He says the Eastman Police Department will continue to work with local and state officials to make the community safer.

“We only have 12,” Cooper said. “But it’s definitely going to be a benefit, a help, and we’re very grateful to the state of Georgia, GEMA and the Department of Homeland Security for this grant.” 

Cooper noted that the cameras will only be used in prosecuting gang activity and other crimes and will not be used for speed detection or scanning tags.