Thursday, January 22, 2009
News Council to address police issues today
Posted by Scott Henry @ScottTheHenry on Thu, Jan 22, 2009 at 4:18 PM
This afternoon, the Atlanta City Council will take up three proposals dealing with police resources — two are fairly interesting, the third fairly pointless. All three are resolutions, so they can be ignored by Mayor Franklin if she sees fit — and in one case she will.
The two most promising measures call for the city to establish mini-precincts at Crawford Long Hospital and Greenbriar Mall. Greenbriar, in Southwest ATL, is a no-brainer, but why Crawford Long? Because it's across the street from the Peachtree-Pine shelter operated by the Task Force for the Homeless. As I noted in a recent cover story, the shelter already sucks up a large chunk of police resources in the surrounding Zone 5, including a patrol car stationed on Pine Street for 16 hours a day.
In both cases, the property owners — the mall and the hospital — are apparently so desperate for additional security and that they have offered to lease the APD the mini-precinct space for $1 a year.
The third resolution requests the termination of employee furloughs for police officers and firefighters. It's a fine idea — to increase police man-hours to combat the apparent rise in violent crime — and the Council is expected to approve it unanimously, but it's a non-starter.
With the city in a serious revenue slump, Franklin has argued the city can't afford to keep police on the job every day without slashing other programs and services. Privately, many Council members agree, but they're unwilling to suggest in an election year what else should go on the chopping block instead. So they've left the tough decisions to an outgoing mayor, who — for good or ill — hasn't backed down from making them.
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