After she was sworn in January 2nd, Meg Heap talked about serving the taxpayers and people as Chatham County District Attorney.
But two months later, is she backing her words up with action?
"We're trying to get everyone on the same page, seated at the table, see what the problem is."
The pages are getting longer for Chatham County District Attorney Meg Heap every day.
New staff members, new major crimes division, and a new attitude in and outside the office.
"As a prosecutor, I want to talk to every witness, turn over every rock for every piece of evidence," explains Heap. "Because if you want to have the best case you can when you go in there, and they are."
"These are career prosecutors, these are people who went to school to become prosecutors. Their passion is to work with victims of crime and they love this."
The major crimes division has already prosecuted 24 cases since it started just three weeks ago. but in the new D.A.'s office, each crime gets special focus, both young and old.
"We are going after juveniles when they commit crimes, but what about, where are the parents?"asks the DA. "Where is their involvement? And the department of Children and Family Services, juvenile court, they are all interested in holding parents accountable for their children."
"It's a crime that goes unnoticed because our seniors may be vulnerable for dementia or Alzheimer's and these are cases that unless someone pays attention to, they can go by the wayside and that is a passion of mine. And stop seeing people bullied."
"I think certain crimes, crimes against women, domestic violence, sexual assault, crimes against children and our elderly. I do believe they have special needs and that the prosecutor has to be in tune to see what it is able to address and also be able to successfully prosecute the case."
And prosecution starts with investigation. Heap has reached out to law enforcement, bringing them back to the office and working with them to put criminals behind bars.
"We sent an email out saying we've got some serious problems with this case, there may be a hole in it," remembers Heap. "They respond saying what if I do this and this. Sure, because our ultimate goal is if you've committed a crime you've got to be held accountable for it."
"I gotta do my job and I can't do it without law enforcement and vice versa, and ultimately it's the county that wins."
"I think law enforcement is trying to investigate these cases. We need the community to speak out. We need the community if they know something, the people can only do so much. They can collect the evidence but if no one is talking they are at a standstill."
Heap says elder abuse is the fastest growing crime in the united states-- and a main focus of her office in the coming months.
She also wants to be more visible in neighborhood and schools to understand why crime seemingly is increasing, and how to keep kids from getting violent and starting a life of crime.
