CAIRO — New years mark new beginnings, and one big change coming to the Grady County Sheriff’s Office in 2020 is the introduction of a dedicated drug investigation unit.

Starting this year, the sheriff’s office will have separate units to investigate general crimes and narcotics-related crimes, a setup similar to the Thomas County Sheriff’s Office.

Wednesday marked the first day of the sheriff’s office’s new organizational structure.

“I think we’re going to be very, very much more productive in our drug investigations and hopefully will be able to put a dent in this whole drug problem,” said investigator Chris Luckey, who was appointed the narcotics unit’s commander by Sheriff Harry Young in August.

Fellow investigators Michael Logue and Jake Bush are also part of the unit.

Together, the three-man squad will focus the entirety of its resources on narcotics and gang investigations to combat what Luckey has described as a “meth epidemic” in Grady County and across southwest Georgia. That will allow the unit’s investigators to devote more time and resources on the legwork sheriff’s office personnel says is needed to conduct successful drug investigations, such as surveillance operations. The new unit even has its own dedicated office on 16th Avenue NE in a separate building away from the main sheriff’s office complex.

In the past, investigators at the sheriff’s office handled everything from general crimes such as burglaries to more complex cases such as those involving child molestation. That meant that vital information for narcotics cases, like the kinds of drugs passing through the county and the names of drug distributors — things that Luckey said can often change daily — was being put on the back burner as investigators were pulled to work in other areas.

With the new drug unit, Luckey hopes to stay on top of the latest trends in drug activity in the county.

“I’m ready to hit the ground running,” he said. “My guys are ready to go. I think it’s going to be very successful.”

Luckey said the drug problem in Grady County and across the country is immense. He doesn’t think drugs will ever go away, but he does believe their influence can be dented.

“It’s going to be a challenging year, but I think it’s going to be very productive and we hope to see some big things happen,” Luckey said.