Smith County Sheriff Larry Smith announced that Don Martin, Public Information Officer for the Tyler Police Department, has been named the administrator for the East Texas Anti-Gang Center.
The Ant-Gang Center has been a project that Sheriff Smith and Chief Deputy Jimmy Jackson have been working on for over a year through Governor Abbott’s office.
The purpose of the initiative is to take action against violent gang activity in East Texas.
Anti-Gang Center is a partnership with multiple law enforcement agencies across East Texas, such as the Tyler police, Longview police, Gregg County Sheriff’s Office, Kilgore police, Texas Department of Public Safety Criminal Investigation Division, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (ATF), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Department of Homeland Security (HSI).
The project received a $1.2 million dollar grant from Gov. Abbott.
In the statement, Sheriff Smith says as the TAG Administrator, Martin will not serve a law enforcement role but will have the responsibility of ensuring all bills are paid, acquisition of technical and other equipment, reporting the statistics to the governor’s office as well as many other support duties for the law enforcement portion of the TAG.
The Executive Board of Directors of the East Texas Anti-Gang Center consists of Sheriff Smith, Gregg County Sheriff Maxey Cerliano, Longview Police Chief Mike Bishop, Tyler Police Chief Jimmy Toler, Smith County District Attorney Jacob Putman and Texas Department of Public Safety CID Captain Rodney Tandy.
Don Martin will begin his new duties on February 1.
