Paulding ACE Unit’s $25K drug bust signals aggressive crime crackdown

Paulding County ACE Unit explained

A drug bust late last week in Paulding County has brought new attention to a recently revamped unit at the Paulding County Sheriff's Office.

PAULDING COUNTY, Ga. - A massive drug bust last week in Paulding County is bringing renewed attention to the recently overhauled sheriff’s office ACE unit.

FOX 5 Atlanta got a chance to ride along with the ACE Unit on Tuesday.

What is the ACE Unit?

What they're saying:

ACE stands for Aggressive Crime Enforcement. Paulding County Sheriff’s Deputy Nathan Potts says the unit is there because they are not waiting for trouble finding them. They were on the hunt during a recent traffic stop.

"The plate appeared to be hidden. So, it was an improper display. Usually, that is concealing the identity of the vehicle. Either they don't have it or they're trying to hide it for some particular reason," said Deputy Potts.

This led to the deputy asking to search inside a backpack. "We start looking for weapons and things that could cause harm," the deputy said. 

Everything looked OK, and the driver was only issued a warning. "Often, you we come across even bigger fish, or we find drugs, or even they just weapons that they shouldn't have in these bags, or on their persons just by having a normal conversation with them," the deputy said.

This is what is described as aggressive policing.  "Not necessarily hands on physically aggressive," said Deputy Potts.

The unit focuses heavily on crime hot spots. "We typically come to, you know, a problem with, something from patrol or detectives might reach out to us. We develop a plan to mitigate that problem," the deputy said. 

What we know:

That's how the unit arrested six people for this drug was found last Thursday night. Seized during the traffic stop was $25,000 in drugs, including methamphetamine, marijuana, and mushrooms.

"I wouldn't even say there was a main issue. It fluctuates from day to day. Paulding has some thefts here and there. There's some drug issues. There's gang activity that's, eating this way from the metro area. But, you know, we listen to our citizens. Our detectives and our patrol officers to try to figure out what that problem is and then put a plan together to try to implement a way to solve it," said Deputy Potts.

What we don't know:

The names of those arrested have not been released.