The Hall County Sheriff's Office Multi-Agency Narcotics Squad has a new name: the Special Investigations Unit.
The change was announced on June 10 in a press release from the Sheriff's Office.
The MANS Unit was created in the 1980s to combat illegal drugs in Hall County, but the unit's operations have changed over time. The FBI, GBI, Hall County District Attorney's Office and the Gainesville Police Department were all previously involved in the MANS Unit's work. However, Sheriff Gerald Couch said the MANS Unit was no longer "multi-agency," after the Gainesville Police Department reallocated its last remaining MANS Unit officer to other duties in December 2021 due to staffing issues.
Couch said changing the unit's name to the SIU reflects the change in involvement from surrounding agencies, as well as the crimes the unit investigates.
"They'll still be doing the same duties that they have been doing except now we've got all these other things that they'll go into," Couch said. "Especially intelligence gathering and computer analysis."
The SIU will also handle property crimes, illegal drugs, gang crimes and other criminal cases requiring specialized investigative techniques.
Couch said while the SIU is only comprised of Hall County Sheriff's Office investigators, they hope to welcome back other area partners in the future as staffing issues subside.
"We will continue to work cases county-wide," Couch said. "If any of the cities have a situation or an incident that they need us to look into, of course, we'll be available for that."
The new name breathes new life into the unit, according to Couch.
"We've included some of our property investigators in with this SIU, and everybody is very talented in both groups," Couch said. "I think blending those two groups together, you'll see a great deal more progress being made."
