We are receiving many phone calls from concerned citizens who want to play a role in combating crime in Atlanta neighborhoods. Please help us address these concerns by forwarding the following e-mail to the members of your community associations and NPU's.
Yours in concern,
The Atlanta Police Foundation
Combating Crime in Our Neighborhoods
The violent murder of John Henderson, local bartender at The Standard Restaurant, has touched the hearts of all Atlantans. This heinous crime, coupled with an increase in property crimes throughout the city has brought much attention to the Atlanta Police Department and the recent city furloughs affecting the Department. As the CEO of the Atlanta Police Foundation I am reaching out to share the facts on police staffing and to share how you as a citizen of Atlanta can be a part of working with the department to ensure that they have the resources necessary to meet our current challenges head on.
The Atlanta Police Foundation (APF) has released several reports over the last five years to the city leadership outlining that the most direct effect to crime prevention is through police visibility. These reports have each indicated that APD should increase staffing to at least 2000 officers by 2009. The city leadership all agreed to that vision and began the process (since 2003) to increase the authorized positions at APD.
The Foundation rolled out a recruitment program in 2005 and supported APD both strategically and financially to hire more officers than ever before. The results have been amazing - APD's staffing has grown from 1433 in 2003 to 1784 officers by August of 2008 (the most ever for APD). This was due largely to the mass recruiting effort supported by the APF where more officers (455) were hired over a two year period than ever before in APD's history. The APF and APD were solidly on course to reach 2000 officers by 2009 year end. As importantly, the APF and APD showed we can hire APD officers at record numbers and dramatically increase police visibility in Atlanta.
When the city of Atlanta budget crisis was announced in the summer of 2008, the APF spent a great deal of time meeting with the Mayor and her staff encouraging them not to cut police positions as a means to solving the budget issues. Subsequently, the Mayor presented a proposal to City Council for a modest tax increase to avoid cutting police positions. However, the Mayor's plan was voted down by City Council and the Mayor said she was left with no other choice but to cut police officers.
Ultimately, 52 officer positions were cut and all vacant positions were frozen until July 1 of 2009. This left us with 1784 officers (again, the most ever) but halted our progress and momentum towards 2000 officers. More disconcerting is the fact that APD, with normal attrition, could lose approximately 150 officers by July 1st, 2009, when the hiring freeze could first be lifted.
To compound this, in the fall of 2008, the Mayor's staff was forced to make more cuts which resulted in the 4 hour per week furlough of all city employees, including APD. Again, the APF warned that the furloughs were not a good idea and that the city would suffer as we would have less police coverage and less safe streets. As importantly, this would cause a tremendous blow to police morale which would result in less enthusiastic officers policing our streets and would cause a mass exodus of officers leaving the department. Once again, the Mayor stated she had no choice but to include the officers in the furloughs.
The net result is that APD currently has 10% less officers on the streets based on the furloughs and officers are disgruntled and resigning in record numbers. Since August of 2008 (hiring freeze) APD has lost 61 officers (we are currently at 1723), with a projected additional 80-100 officers to leave the department by July 1, 2009. The result could be devastating to this city as the number of police officers patrolling our streets could very likely shrink to approximately 1600 officers.
Later this month, the Atlanta Police Foundation will release a new report comparing police staffing in Atlanta to other major US cities. This report will outline the need for a minimum of 2500 officers in Atlanta based on the cities' population and crime trends.
Therefore, we are at a critical juncture for this city's future regarding safety and security. We stand at a precipice where police visibility is decreasing rapidly which will result in a city that is much less safe. More importantly, we have made great strides over the last 5 years to building more police visibility and a stronger police department with historic low crime rates. All of this is in jeopardy and we need your help.
I know, given the events of this week, many of you are very concerned and wondering how you can help. The Atlanta Police Foundation is that vehicle. We were established to give the private sector a way to take part in reducing crime in Atlanta. You can support the Foundation through a donation by logging onto our website at www.atlantapolicefoundation.org and you can also sign up to receive e-mails from the Foundation so you can stay abreast of current crime trends and safety and security initiatives and other opportunities to play a role in reducing crime in Atlanta.
Specifically, in the area of police staffing we need citizens to lobby city council and the Mayor for the following three things: 1) an end to the police furloughs immediately 2) to end the current hiring freeze for officers and 3) to commit to increasing authorized positions for APD officers in the 2010 budget from the current 1784 to 1884 officers.
In the case of John Henderson, a reward fund has been established through our Crime Stoppers Atlanta program and you can make a donation to that fund by logging onto the John Henderson page on our site.
If you have any other questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact the Foundation at 404-586-0180 or by e-mailing ccollins@atlantapolicefoundation.org or aashe@atlantapolicefoundation.org.
Allison Ashe
Chief Operating Officer & VP of Development
Atlanta Police Foundation
127 Peachtree Street, Suite 201
Atlanta, GA 30303
O: 404-586-0404
C: 404-610-0661
F: 404-586-0414
www.atlantapolicefoundation.org