Bright and early on Saturday March 6 in the morning the GSU Military Science building hosted the “Securing Statesboro: Keeping our city safe” public forum.

Mayor McCollar gave the opening remarks to the forum with the message that the purpose of these meetings and what results from them is to find solutions that do right by the community instead of those who are looking to profit from any changes made. This theme set the tone and stage for the whole forum as each question came up and audience members engaged with the materials.

The forum consisted of presentations from guest panelists from two of the area’s police departments ( a member of the Bulloch County Sheriff’s office was unable to make it as planned due to unforeseen circumstance) as well as by Kim Billings from Safe Haven and Lakeidra Lee of the Teal House. 

The panelists’ presentations were followed up by a question and answer session moderated by Stacy Smallwood of the One Boro Commision with questions provided by the audience and answers by the panelists and Jonathan McCollar, mayor of Statesboro.

Among the topics discussed included the property and violent crime statistics of the three police departments in the area, the resources available for victims of crimes, the link between lack of access to resources and rise in crime over time, what is being done to bring back the those community resources, and was we can do as individuals to make the city we call home a safer place.

A recording of the forum is available on the One Boro Facebook page. The video recording is 2 hours and eleven minutes long with the information session starting with the mayor’s opening remarks at the 12 minute mark and lasting until the 52 minute mark, when Smallwood starts with the question and answer portion of the forum.