Commish, Cont.

Anti-Poverty; Anti-Terrorism

originally published April 11, 2007

Commissioners also voted unanimously at their Apr. 3 meeting to donate $50,000 to the anti-poverty initiative Partners for a Prosperous Athens. It’s the local government’s first donation to the group, whose staff has largely been provided by UGA. And they accepted a $193,000 grant from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s “Georgia Terrorism Intelligence Project” which would add Athens, Albany, Macon and Savannah to six Atlanta-area police departments that are already coordinating information on possible terrorism threats. Initial concerns of some commissioners about the grant (“this one is kind of scary if you’re paranoid,” Commissioner Carl Jordan said last month) were laid to rest by ACC Police Chief Jack Lumpkin’s assurances that ACC Police can decide what information will be shared outside the department. And while the project is federally funded, it is strictly a state and local operation, he told Flagpole.

The grant will supply computer equipment and training so Athens police can share and analyze “raw data,” Lumpkin said: information that doesn’t in itself constitute a crime or a threat, like the purchase of fertilizer that might be used in a bomb. If the same person then purchased fuel oil in another city, the system might catch that, he said. In an incident that actually occurred in Athens, an unidentified person was seen photographing the Jefferson Road “tank farm” where gasoline is stored, Lumpkin added. There will be a phone number for intelligence tips from the public, he said.

John Huie

jphuie@athens.net