More police officers in Atlanta

The City of Atlanta delivers a bit of positive news to members of the Georgia House Public Safety Committee looking at the surge in crime in the city over the last 18 months.

With a goal to hire five officers a week which began July 1, Chief Operating Officer Jon Keen told state lawmakers during a hearing Tuesday that it’s already exceeding that number.

“Last week was the seventh week that we were tracking. We had hired 38 officers (and) our target was 35 at the point. We’re going to exceed that target as much as we possibly can,” he said.

The city also has committed $3 million in public-private funding to expand its network cameras by 250 over the next fiscal year.

Police Chief Rodney Bryant says morale among officers is improving as well.

“The attrition rate has subsided substantially,” he says. “The conversation that we have day to day with the men and women of our police department also alludes to the fact that things are beginning to improve.”

But Bryant admits the rise in homicides and aggravated assaults has been troublesome and something the department continues to work on.

He told lawmakers 80 percent of the homicides in the city are either domestic-related or involve people with some kind of connection. And he worries another COVID spike could send them up even more.

Meantime, APD’s partnership with the Georgia State Patrol and other state agencies working a crime suppression detail in the city has been so successful that the board of the Georgia Dept. of Public Safety has approved a full-time 10-member unit to help fight crime throughout metro Atlanta.

Col. Chris Wright, commissioner of DPS, says the detail in Atlanta has made nearly 11,000 traffic stops, arrested 188 fugitives, and recovered 144 stolen vehicles since April.