On July 2, Savannah Mayor Van Johnson said gun violence being committed by repeat offenders was happening “more and more.” At that time, Johnson promised to have a definitive list of the city’s most sought-after criminals—including the names and photos for each—released to the public.

“Soon, I will be releasing a 10 Most Wanted list for the City of Savannah, because we have to make sure the community knows who these individuals are,” the mayor said. “We have to get them off the streets.”

On Tuesday, July 16, the Savannah Police Department (SPD) made good on Johnson’s promise, releasing officially the city’s Top 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list.

“A couple of weeks ago I talked about releasing a top 10 list here in Savannah. This week, it’s the top 10 most wanted fugitives,” Johnson said Tuesday at a weekly press briefing in City Hall.

“Next week, it might be the top 10 people of interest; it might be the top 10 people that we want to talk to. Public safety is a community effort. We will do what we can do and must do, but we need our community to do what it can do and must do as well. We know that a lot of people engaged in violent activity in our community have already been engaged in violent activity (previously). So, it stands to reason that these individuals who are engaged in violent activity—if we have our eyes on them or if they need to be behind bars—then hopefully, our violent incidents will go down.”

The website dedicated to the top 10 initiative clarifies  that the listed fugitives are the most wanted, but not necessarily the most violent.

“(SPD) compiles a Top 10 Most Wanted list that details wanted subjects the department is looking for These suspects are not always the most violent offenders the department is looking for but have a combined number of factors that make them one of our top wanted offenders. The lists will be updated as offenders are captured.”

This article appears in Connect Savannah I July 2024.