REMERTON, Ga. (WALB) - After nearly two years of violent crimes in the city of Remerton, where residents say they used to feel safe, the city permanently changed the closing time of the bar strip where law enforcement says many of these crimes took place.

Remerton Police Department Investigator Derrick Sinclair said, “In the last five months we have actually had no violent incidents on the bar strip.”

In July 2025, Remerton Police Department asked for Georgia Bureau of Investigation to assist in the third violent crime case in under two years.

This issue came as a surprise to city leaders, law enforcement, business owners, residents, and those that frequent the bar strip.

Sinclair said, “We had to do something, and this time change has worked for us.”

The city temporarily amended the Alcoholic Beverage Ordinance, requiring bars to close by midnight for 30 days, July 10th through August 10th.

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The city council then voted to permanently change the bars closing to 1 a.m., which is a compromise from the previous 2 a.m. closing time and the temporary midnight closing time.

In addition, they added high-tech cameras, brighter lights, and increased patrol on the bar strip.

“I think all of that has helped. We had lights before but these new lights are really bright and they light up the area,” Sinclair said. “The officers are always up and down the strip anyway, so they are on foot walking to make sure there are no large gathers going on so I believe all of that has helped with the decrease.”

Two businesses with alcohol licenses have closed since its inception. WALB spoke with the owners, who say the closures were not due to the schedule change.

City leaders and police say that they have not received much pushback since the new rule, and have not had to issue any citations to bar owners.

“The clientele is still the same, it’s still college-age kids. But the problem we were having is the late night folks that were showing up and not going into the bars just hanging out,” Sinclair said. “Right now we don’t have that, folks are showing up going into the bars and at 1 o’clock they are all leaving. So we are not having that large gathering like we did in the past.”

City leaders say the last five months first responders have only been dispatched for medical and nonviolent incidents at the bars, which they believe proves the change was a success for the small community.

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