County CNT director reports drug unit gains, seizures and ongoing overdose concern

Chatham County's Community Narcotics/Overdose Response team (CNT) told commissioners the office is expanding its intelligence capacity and programs while continuing investigations into fatal overdoses and major drug trafficking.

Director Serhii delivered the quarterly briefing, telling the board the CNT has hired an intelligence supervisor and built an intel unit that supports countywide investigations. He said the county's adult drug awareness trailer reached about 750 people across 14 events last year and the Positive Peer Influencer program now operates in 10 high schools with outreach to middle-school students.

Serhii also reported enforcement results: he described a multiunit investigation (Operation Vaquero) and subsequent search warrants executed in Savannah and Port Wentworth that, when combined with other recent cases, resulted in the seizure of multiple kilograms of fentanyl and kilograms of cocaine, plus cash and other assets. He said one overdose death investigation led to an arrest within 48 hours with felony charges anticipated pending toxicology results.

On trends, Serhii noted the county recorded 35 overdose investigations the prior reporting year but had counted 10 overdose investigations in the first two months of 2026; he cautioned that post-transport hospital deaths could alter final counts. He asked commissioners to refer constituents who have lost family members to the county's support group and invited them to tour CNT facilities.

Commissioners commended the CNT's school counseling and peer training programs and asked follow-up questions about staffing, traffic between partner departments and how seized settlement funds will be publicly tracked on the county website.

What it means: County officials described the report as evidence of multi-department coordination, with both prevention and enforcement efforts operating in tandem; commissioners asked staff to maintain transparency around settlement funds and to return with any additional data requested.