By Ernie Suggs
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ATLANTA — Police Chief George Turner’s plan to reshape the Atlanta Police Department holds the promise of quicker response times.
At a special Public Safety Committee work session, Turner and his commanders submitted an ambitious proposal to drastically redesign the operation of the current police zones, while expanding beat coverage.
Turner’s plan is to increase the number of beats throughout the city’s six police zones to 78 from the current 66. The number of beats varies by zone because the zones are different sizes.
With 12 additional beats, Turner said, more officers would patrol smaller areas.
“This is the first step in moving toward a new Atlanta Police Department,” Turner said later. “This is about how we police and where we put our people. This is strategic planning.”
According to the 33-page report, “the plan would allow for the workload among the beats to be more equally distributed and reduce the disparity among the zones. The plan is expected to lower response times by more adequately aligning the zone and beat workloads.”
For example, Zone 1 — which covers the western portion of the city — would go from 11 beats to 14. That also would include three additional patrol cars and 15 more officers in one of the most crime-ridden areas of the city.
Citywide, the additional vehicles, 12, and officers, 60, are included in the current budget. Turner said the cars are already on order, and officers are being hired.
Councilman Ivory Lee Young, chairman of the Public Safety Committee, said he predicts the changes will be ratified before the end of the year and implemented next spring.
Councilman Michael Julian Bond has been one of the strongest proponents of the redesign and as far back as January requested that the APD study the possibilities, based on crime statistics and trends.
He said that while he was campaigning for his seat, Bond ran into several people, particularly in Zones 4 and 6, who felt that their beat officers were overwhelmed.
Under the plan, Zone 4 would get three additional beats, and Zone 6 would get one more.
“I appreciate the fact these proposals are based on crime data and that we are responding to concerns raised by the public,” Bond said. “This is not political at all.”
Thursday’s meeting was a key first step.
Turner and the Public Safety Committee will now try to sell the plan to community and business leaders, as well as the rest of the council.
"[The proposal] was well-received today, with a number of legitimate questions,” Turner said. “But in the end, we are talking about adding 12 beats that will allow us to reduce our workload and give us a better opportunity to patrol the community.”
Young said, “APD is living up to their commitment to structure our beats and our zones consistently with the department’s community policing policies. We will redesign these beats to match the shape and geography of our neighborhoods.”
Copyright 2010 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution