Chatham County District Attorney's Office Unveils Its Racketeering and Organized Crime Unit
Friday, June 25th, 2021
On June 17, 2021, District Attorney Shalena Cook Jones announced the creation of the District Attorney’s Office Racketeering and Organized Crime ("ROC'') Unit. Today, DA Jones unveils the project details. The ROC Unit is a county-wide, multi-disciplinary task force made up of law enforcement department heads, prosecutors, elected officials, community leaders, medical personnel, neighborhood association presidents, military personnel, victim services agencies, faith leaders, community activists, policy makers and other community leaders. “The goal is to bring these groups together to share intelligence among departments so law enforcement agencies aren’t investigating crimes in silos,” DA Jones said.
The purpose of the ROC Unit is to:
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(1) Collect, share and distribute resources, personnel and intelligence on gang activityand other forms of organized crime;
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(2) Develop a standard protocol and order of operations to improve response time,incident readiness and unified effort;
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(3) Create a coordinated response team to be dispatched in response to gang activity,mass shootings and other critical incidents in the county;
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(4) Empower the community through education and outreach; and
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(5) Develop effective strategies to prevent retaliation, protect victims and
witnesses;and increase public safety.
Recent tragic events in Chatham County that left two people dead and many others wounded, including several innocent children, demonstrate the importance of the DA’s Office taking swift action and establishing the ROC Unit. DA Jones remarked, “No single agency or governmental entity can fight this alone. It is a community problem that requires a community solution.” The initial meeting will occur today at 6:30pm at the Ralph Gilbert Civil Rights Museum in the Priscilla D. Thomas Annex. DA Jones said, “I look forward to working collaboratively to end gun and gang violence in our community with members of the community and law enforcement.”
There will a press conference immediately following the meeting to address questions.
