Confiscated Funds Used For Station
Peter Scott, The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
Clayton County officials plan to build a $17 million public safety building for which bricks, mortar and everything else will be paid for mostly with money confiscated from drug dealers.
“It’s ironic, but the county is letting those who sell drugs build its new police headquarters and emergency 911 center,” said Clark Stevens, an administrative assistant to Clayton County Commission Chairman Crandle Bray.
The existing police facility was built in the 1970s and has been plagued by repairs, said Maj. Doug Jewett of the Clayton County Police Department.
Over the years, the county has saved more than $6 million associated with the arrest of drug dealers and confiscation of their property in the commission of crimes, said Stevens.
Clayton outdistances many other jurisdictions in such seizure because many of its drug arrests are at Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Airport, whose boundaries spill into Clayton County.
Formally, Stevens said the county will borrow $17 million to build the police complex and repay 20-year bonds with proceeds from drug confiscations.
Over the years, Stevens projects the county will collect an additional $6 million through seizures and the balance will come from a $1.50 cellphone tax in the county.
Stevens said the county already has used more than $800,000 of the drug money to clear land near the existing police station at Ga. 138 and Southlake Parkway and pay architects’ fees.
The facility will be 90,000 square feet and is scheduled for completion over a 12-month period. The general contractor is Lee Design & Management Group, and the architects are Slaterpaull Architects.
The plan used by Clayton is the brainchild of Stevens, who won support for a similar proposal as member of the governor’s staff years ago. Stevens said state leaders supported his plan that used $9 million in confiscated drug money to build the state public training facility in Forsyth.