Lawrenceville Police Chief to Head Proposed Gwinnett Drug Task Force

The Lawrenceville Police Department and several other Gwinnett law enforcement agencies are planning to form an inter-agency drug and vice task force, as a result of the Service Delivery Strategy Settlement. Plans call for Lawrenceville Police Chief Randy Johnson to be the board chairman.

The Gwinnett Metro Task force will investigate and prosecute the offenders through mutual aid where violations occur within the named cities in the agreement. Any case that occurs outside the city or leads to violations outside the city will be turned over the Gwinnett County Police. The cases made by the Gwinnett Metro Task force will be turned over to the appropriate court system.

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Other agencies involved are Duluth PD, Lawrenceville PD, Lilburn PD, Loganville PD, Snellville PD, and the Gwinnett Sheriff's Department. 

The task force is aimed at street-level crimes in residences and businesses, according to Suwanee Police Chief Mike Jones. The nature of the inter-agency agreement means that some non-Lawrenceville officers will be patrolling and responding to the crimes inside Lawrenceville city limits.

Other agencies will be welcome to join.

Board meetings will be the fourth Tuesday of each month, according to documents. Dallas Stidd of the Gwinnett Sheriff's Office is the initial commander. Each agency will determine the number of investigators and/or analysts assigned to the force.

The Gwinnett Police Department still will handle such crimes in unincorporated areas.

Jones noted that the Suwanee PD and other cities currently do not have a task force for drugs. With the new agency, "if there's a neighborhood where traffic is going in and out of a house, I've got somebody I can call on."

Jones also said that Gwinnett District Attorney Danny Porter is fully supportive of the new task force.