Savannah Police Department welcomes narcotics agent

SAVANNAH, Tenn. — Savannah police have expanded their department in a way they believe will help them fight crime, adding a dedicated narcotics agent.

“I’ve talked to hundreds upon hundreds of people since I got named into this position, and I would say probably 90 percent of them, that was one of things they told me, they felt like Savannah had a problem with illegal narcotic use,” Chief Michael Pitts of the Savannah Police Department said.

So on May 9, Savannah police decided to promote and train one of their own officers for the position.

“When they get into a situation that maybe is a little bigger than they’re used to handling, or they just need an extra set of eyes from someone who is more trained in this specific area, they can call in our narcotics investigator,” Pitts said.

The chief says he doesn’t believe the city’s drug problem begins in Savannah, so the new agent is also a trained member of the 24th Drug Task Force.

“We didn’t want to get into a situation where our guy had to stop at the city limits and we could only get the little guys here,” the chief said. “We wanted to be able to have that longer reach.”

Chief Pitts says since the drug task force agent has been added to the department, he has already made a number of narcotics-related arrests in Savannah.

But the chief says, along with his team, he also needs help from the community of Savannah.

“We had the sweep a couple weeks ago, and it was very successful, and a lot of things that were going on during that sweep were stemmed out of information that people gave to us,” Chief Pitts said.

The chief says Savannah’s drug task force agent will undergo additional training as soon as this summer in areas such as how to manage confidential informants, additional search warrant writing, and working undercover.