Cynthia
Johnson
Igniting Hope for
Georgia State House District 148
Georgia State House District 148
Public Safety & Community Building
Safety Is About More Than Enforcement. It's About What We Build Together
Public safety requires both enforcement and investment. You cannot arrest your way out of addiction. You cannot incarcerate your way out of mental illness. And you cannot police your way into economic stability. Every approach that treats those challenges as separate, unrelated problems has failed — and rural communities have paid the highest price for that failure, because they have the fewest resources to absorb it.
That is not a partisan statement. It is an honest one. And the people of HD-148 deserve honest answers.
On Fentanyl and Addiction
The fentanyl crisis has touched every community in this district. I support SB 79, the Fentanyl Eradication and Removal Act, signed into law in 2025. Stiffer mandatory minimum sentences for trafficking are the right response to the people profiting from addiction in our neighborhoods. I want to be absolutely clear about that.
But I am equally clear about what SB 79 does not do: it does not create a single treatment bed, fund a single recovery program, or open a single crisis center in Crisp, Pulaski, or Wilcox County. There is effectively no state-funded addiction treatment infrastructure in this district. The closest mental health crisis facility to Cordele may be forty or more miles away.
A person in the grip of addiction who wants help and cannot find it does not become a statistic we prevented. They become a statistic we failed.
I will push for a Federally Qualified Community Health Center designation for this district, which would bring federal funding for integrated primary care and behavioral health services — including addiction treatment and recovery support — to communities that currently have neither. Enforcement without treatment is not a public safety strategy. It is a revolving door.
On Mental Health and Law Enforcement
Our sheriffs and deputies are being asked to respond to psychiatric crises with no clinical training and no referral pathway. That is not fair to the officers, it is not safe for the person in crisis, and it is not effective as a public safety strategy.
Atlanta's co-responder model — a trained mental health professional paired with law enforcement on mental health calls — has demonstrated real results in reducing hospitalizations, reducing arrests, and keeping both officers and individuals in crisis safer.
I will advocate for a rural co-responder pilot program in HD-148, funded through state behavioral health appropriations. Because when our deputies are the only option at 2 a.m., we owe them the backup of someone trained to help.
On Reentry: Breaking the Cycle
Every person released from incarceration in Crisp County with no housing, no employment support, and no services is a high-probability return to the same county jail within months. That cycle costs local government real money. It wastes human potential. And it leaves families in limbo.
I will:
School Safety: Protecting Our Children and Educators
The safety of students and teachers is a moral imperative — not a political question. I will support legislation requiring:
I will also champion common-sense gun laws — universal background checks, red flag laws, and raising the purchasing age for semi-automatic rifles — because protecting our schools starts before any alarm is ever triggered.
Building Community Alongside Enforcing the Law
Safe communities are not built through policing alone. They are built through the presence of institutions, services, and relationships that give people a reason to invest in where they live.
That means investing in the places young people gather — after-school programs, enrichment opportunities, mentorship, and summer programs including STEM exposure that opens doors to careers. It means supporting parents and families so that the home is a resource rather than a pressure point. And it means ensuring that the economic development coming into our district actually strengthens the community fabric rather than straining it.
I have spent my career — as a teacher, an administrator, a court clerk, a community servant — building exactly those kinds of connections. I know that safety and opportunity are not separate issues. They are the same issue, approached from different angles. And I will fight for both.
Public safety requires both enforcement and investment. You cannot arrest your way out of addiction. You cannot incarcerate your way out of mental illness. And you cannot police your way into economic stability. Every approach that treats those challenges as separate, unrelated problems has failed — and rural communities have paid the highest price for that failure, because they have the fewest resources to absorb it.
That is not a partisan statement. It is an honest one. And the people of HD-148 deserve honest answers.
On Fentanyl and Addiction
The fentanyl crisis has touched every community in this district. I support SB 79, the Fentanyl Eradication and Removal Act, signed into law in 2025. Stiffer mandatory minimum sentences for trafficking are the right response to the people profiting from addiction in our neighborhoods. I want to be absolutely clear about that.
But I am equally clear about what SB 79 does not do: it does not create a single treatment bed, fund a single recovery program, or open a single crisis center in Crisp, Pulaski, or Wilcox County. There is effectively no state-funded addiction treatment infrastructure in this district. The closest mental health crisis facility to Cordele may be forty or more miles away.
A person in the grip of addiction who wants help and cannot find it does not become a statistic we prevented. They become a statistic we failed.
I will push for a Federally Qualified Community Health Center designation for this district, which would bring federal funding for integrated primary care and behavioral health services — including addiction treatment and recovery support — to communities that currently have neither. Enforcement without treatment is not a public safety strategy. It is a revolving door.
On Mental Health and Law Enforcement
Our sheriffs and deputies are being asked to respond to psychiatric crises with no clinical training and no referral pathway. That is not fair to the officers, it is not safe for the person in crisis, and it is not effective as a public safety strategy.
Atlanta's co-responder model — a trained mental health professional paired with law enforcement on mental health calls — has demonstrated real results in reducing hospitalizations, reducing arrests, and keeping both officers and individuals in crisis safer.
I will advocate for a rural co-responder pilot program in HD-148, funded through state behavioral health appropriations. Because when our deputies are the only option at 2 a.m., we owe them the backup of someone trained to help.
On Reentry: Breaking the Cycle
Every person released from incarceration in Crisp County with no housing, no employment support, and no services is a high-probability return to the same county jail within months. That cycle costs local government real money. It wastes human potential. And it leaves families in limbo.
I will:
- Advocate for a state-funded reentry coordinator position at the judicial circuit level — a single point of contact who connects recently released individuals to housing assistance, employment programs, and healthcare. This position pays for itself in reduced recidivism
- Support clean slate legislation that allows automatic expungement of non-violent offenses after a defined period of clean behavior. A criminal record that follows someone for life is a permanent barrier to employment, housing, and stability — and permanent barriers produce permanent recidivism
School Safety: Protecting Our Children and Educators
The safety of students and teachers is a moral imperative — not a political question. I will support legislation requiring:
- Mandatory, state-funded metal detectors at all Pre-K through 12 public school entrances
- High-security access systems with scanned entry codes and monitored vestibules at main entrances
- Comprehensive surveillance linked to school administration and local law enforcement for immediate response
- Mandatory annual crisis intervention training for all school faculty and staff
- Significantly expanded school-based mental health services — licensed counselors, psychologists, and social workers at professional ratios on every campus
I will also champion common-sense gun laws — universal background checks, red flag laws, and raising the purchasing age for semi-automatic rifles — because protecting our schools starts before any alarm is ever triggered.
Building Community Alongside Enforcing the Law
Safe communities are not built through policing alone. They are built through the presence of institutions, services, and relationships that give people a reason to invest in where they live.
That means investing in the places young people gather — after-school programs, enrichment opportunities, mentorship, and summer programs including STEM exposure that opens doors to careers. It means supporting parents and families so that the home is a resource rather than a pressure point. And it means ensuring that the economic development coming into our district actually strengthens the community fabric rather than straining it.
I have spent my career — as a teacher, an administrator, a court clerk, a community servant — building exactly those kinds of connections. I know that safety and opportunity are not separate issues. They are the same issue, approached from different angles. And I will fight for both.
PRIVACY POLICY | TERMS & CONDITIONS
PAID FOR BY CYNTHIA JOHNSON FOR GEORGIA
P.O. Box 42 Cordele, GA 31010 | (229) 805-0094
copyright 2026 Cynthia Johnson for Georgia
PAID FOR BY CYNTHIA JOHNSON FOR GEORGIA
P.O. Box 42 Cordele, GA 31010 | (229) 805-0094
copyright 2026 Cynthia Johnson for Georgia