By Jim Durrett, President of Buckhead Coalition and Executive Director of Buckhead Community Improvement District
We express our heartfelt gratitude to the men and women of the Atlanta Police Department for their hard work, dedication and selfless service. Responding quickly to emergencies, upholding law and order and protecting us – they do it all with immense bravery and courage. Our safety and security rely on them day and night, so we are forever in debt to their contributions to all of the City of Atlanta.
The collaboration and partnership between the Buckhead Community Improvement District, the Buckhead Coalition and the Atlanta Police Department has never been stronger. We are so fortunate to have Major Ailen Mitchell serving as Zone 2 Commander.
I wanted to give the readers of this column the opportunity to hear from Major Mitchell on his outlook of past and present, so I sat down with him last week for a chat.
Q: With summer around the corner, what message do you have for the residents, employees and visitors of Buckhead as it relates to safety awareness?
As we move into the summer months, we would encourage residents, employees and visitors to keep their cars clean. A clean car means keeping bags, purses, electronics or other items stored in your trunk and not visible through your windows. Theft from motor vehicles continues to be problematic throughout the city of Atlanta and Zone 2. I would also encourage the proper storage of firearms; do not leave firearms in your vehicle because that is what these suspects are targeting when breaking into vehicles.
Q: What are your proudest accomplishments for the first half of 2023?
The proudest accomplishment so far in 2023 is the continued hard work and consistency of the officers assigned to Zone 2. Year-to-date, we are down two percent in overall crime for Zone 2. The officers in Zone 2 continue to be proactive and remain engaged to ensure the citizens and visitors of Zone 2 are safe. Another accomplishment is the joint bike patrol with the MARTA Police Department. Officer Edie attended an award ceremony in Pittsburgh with MARTA PD where an award was presented for the 2023 Rail Security Gold Award.
Q: What are your goals for Zone 2 for the latter half of 2023?
As we move into the second half of 2023, our goal is to continue to reduce crime throughout Zone 2. I also want to continue to build on and leverage our great partnerships with community leaders, stakeholders, citizens and businesses throughout the Zone. We are certainly excited about where we stand with overall crime down again so far this year, but we are not satisfied. I would definitely like to win the Crime Reduction Award for a third year in a row. A three-peat has never been done before so why not set that lofty goal?
Q: What role are community partnerships playing in reducing crime in Buckhead?
The community partnerships have contributed to the reduction in crime throughout Buckhead and Zone 2 with the additional visibility and response to 911 calls. These partnerships include Buckhead CID vehicle and bicycle patrols, Buckhead Safety Alliance, off-duty officers at Lenox Mall and Phipps Plaza, and the neighborhood community patrols.
Q: What are some of the biggest challenges still facing Zone 2?
The biggest challenges we currently face are retention and recruitment. We are focused across the city and in Zone 2 on keeping the morale of our officers at a high level. The administration has given retention bonuses, started a take-home car program and given cost of living raises to officers to help with retention.
As far as recruitment, we have increased our hiring and referral bonuses. We are also building a state-of-the-art Public Safety Training Center to teach and train the best officers in the world and provide world-class service to the citizens of Atlanta. We are also traveling more to try and recruit across the nation. Our department, like so many others throughout the country, is operating with a reduction in force. Our authorized strength for sworn officers is a little over 2,000 and we are working every day to achieve that goal.
