ATLANTA - The Georgia Department of Corrections has been awarded a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) which it will use to locate and prosecute absconded, or missing, sex offenders.
Announcement of the grant comes two days after the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in an analysis of public records that there are more than 200 unaccounted for known sex offenders in metro Atlanta, despite laws that are in place to keep them under close supervision.
A separate check of the state's sex offender registry Sunday night found 55 in the immediate Gainesville area listed as absconded... including 16 in Hall County; 23 in Gwinnett; seven in Barrow; three in Jackson; two in White; and one each in Habersham, Forsyth, Dawson and Banks counties. None were shown as absconded in Lumpkin County. (See earlier story.)
In order to be considered as a recipient of the grant, an agency must first be nominated. The Department of Corrections was nominated by Richard Mecum, U.S. Marshal for the Northern District of Georgia.
COPS awarded a total of $11.4 million in grants to support partnerships between state or local government agencies and their U.S. Attorneyâ
Thursday
April 25th, 2024
5:04PM
