Muscogee County Sheriff’s Department releases annual report

COLUMBUS, Ga. (WTVM) - “Anyone that is operating a criminal enterprise in Muscogee County we’re gonna get ya,” says Muscogee county Sheriff Greg Countryman With that promise, Sheriff Greg Countryman has released the 2022 annual report. It’s a large list of data compiled over the last 12 months. And Muscogee County’s Sheriff says his first goal was to get rid of the nickname coined by a meme of “kill-oumbus”.

“That was my goal, is for us to be able to make impact arrest, that would impact the homicide murder rate and that happened,” says Sheriff Countryman. He says the use of new crime fighting tools came simply because the citizens of Muscogee County wanted more from law enforcement. “We want the citizens of Muscogee County to know that they have a sheriff’s office they can count on,” says Countryman.

He says the numbers are there. From 2021, the amount of drugs taken off the street was worth just over eight hundred thousand dollars. then, last year, the sheriff’s department says they seized more than 2.3 million dollars worth of narcotics. Also firearms removed from convicted felons going up from 179 the year before to 313 taken off the streets in 2022. “You are talking a 168% increase in that, and so you’re looking at the number of felony arrest,” says the sheriff. With those felony arrest numbers so high, he says that leads to more weapons coming off the streets.

“This is not a gun buyback program this is a gun take back program, so we’re going to take back guns from the people who ought not have them, that’s the gang members, the fugitives, the drug dealers,” says Countryman. The report is posted online for all to see, and the sheriff says it is his duty to be forthcoming with Muscogee county residents. “I want to be transparent, because as an elected official I’m not too big for the citizens to check me,” says Countryman.

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