MACON, Ga. — There's a little more than a week left before voters in Macon-Bibb County pick a new mayor, and 13WMAZ is hearing from both candidates on the county's top issues.
Back in February, we drove the 13WMAZ Listening Lab to nine areas around the county, and you told us what matters most to you. We took those topics to Lester Miller and Cliff Whitby.
Here are both candidates' ideas on how to fight crime in the county.
Miller and Whitby say the county has to get a grip on its crime rate, and each have different plans to lower the violence.
Whitby says his Six-Point Plan is about engaging Macon's youth at a young age.
"A lot of that is engaging the stakeholders in the community, the community centers, directors, and coaches and clergy, to address dealing with young people, but gun violence itself is a systemic problem that derives from some of the ills that disproportionately impacts certain communities," Whitby said.
However, when we asked for more details on the plan he first announced in November, his answer-- "It's really the stakeholders. I don't have the plan in front of me."
Whitby added that to lower crime, the county will need to provide more resources for its educators.
"We're asking teachers to teach children that haven't eaten all weekend," Whitby said. "We're asking our administrators to take on issues and responsibility that's really the community's responsibility to do so."
Miller says he also has a plan. It's called the Justice Works Program.
"It's a situation where a person can to work while they're incarcerated instead of going to prison, and they can actually earn an income that they'll get 100% of minus their room and board, if you will, during the week, and they have child support obligations while they're there, and it will get taken care of," Miller said.
Miller says this program could pull 20 to 25 deputies out of the jail and onto the streets to patrol. He says it also could move as many as 100 jailers into a less restrictive environment where they can work.
Miller added it would also help with recidivism, or in other words, it would keep people out of the system.
"We're trying to give them a trade, a skill. Some of them already have jobs. We're trying to maintain those jobs, but it helps prevent homelessness when they get out," Miller said. "They've had a year that they've been in the system and they've got a check stub that shows they've been working, so it's easier to get an apartment."
He says overall, the program could allow former inmates to start off on the right foot, and it would also save taxpayers' dollars.
"...which can further be put into that same police officers or in public safety, including police and fire account where you can pay these officers and recruit better officers, highly trained officers and be able not to increase taxes," Miller said.
See Miller's full remarks on decreasing crime here:
See Whitby's full remarks on decreasing crime here: