With decades in law enforcement, state Board of Pardons and Paroles member Gale Buckner was elected Thursday to take over the troubled Department of Juvenile Justice.
The DJJ Board vote was unanimous, coming just three days after Gov. Nathan Deal announced she would replace Amy Howell, a former DJJ deputy commissioner promoted in January to run the agency. Howell, according to the announcement, is now general counsel at the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities.
Buckner will be sworn in on Monday, which will be her first official day on the job.
On any day, the Department of Juvenile Justice houses 2,000 young boys and girls at its facilities, and it supervises another 14,000 in their communities.
Buckner said she was committed to protecting the public from the violent teenagers who make up most of the populations at the regional detention centers, short-term holding facilities, and the youth development centers, where juvenile offenders are held for years in some cases. At the same time, she will have to balance the needs of housing and helping the young offenders.
"It's important for the public to remember they are designated felons ... and are dangerous," Buckner said.
Buckner moves into an agency that has been plagued by disturbances at some facilities.
Twice since last May, police SWAT officers have been called to the DeKalb County Regional Youth Detention Center.
Last month, 34 of the 64 teenage boys at the DeKalb County facility were involved in what was described in a call to 911 as a "riot." In May, DeKalb County police riot officers also were called in stop a “group disturbance.”
And earlier this year, there were at least two similar incidents at the Regional Youth Detention Center in Eastman, which is near Macon. Law enforcement officers from two counties were called to help regain control and return to their cells the 60 young inmates involved in the disturbance.
About 10 percent of the juveniles in the facilities are "status offenders" who were put in the state's care for running away, truancy and other offenses that would not be a crime if committed by an adult.
"I look forward to enhancing DJJ, helping the troubled youth we serve and ensuring public safety in our communities and facilities," Buckner said.
Buckner joined the Georgia Bureau of Investigation in 1981, and her 19 years with the GBI included assignments in the Atlanta field office for death investigations, child abuse and fraud. In 2000, Buckner was named executive director of the Georgia Criminal Justice Coordinating Council. The governor, then Sonny Perdue, appointed her to the parole board in 2005, and she was the board's chair from July 1, 2008, until June 30, 2010.
Republican state Rep. James Mills, who like the current governor is from Hall County, will replace Buckner on the Parole Board.
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