Short staffed police force causing issues for Cobb Co. (Atlanta: 2014, crime)

[jsvh]

Short staffed police force causing issues for Cobb Co. | www.wsbradio.com

The Cobb County Police Department is authorized to hire 645 sworn officers. By the end of July, the number of officers actually serving will have dropped to 485, given projections on officer retention. There are 20 recruits currently undergoing field training and another 25 expected to graduate in the current class at the police academy.

“So, after all is said and done, we will have fewer officers on the road at the end of 2014 than we did at the end of 2013,” said one police source. “And that will be just two years before first pitch at the new Braves stadium” which officers and their supporters believe will be a tremendous drain on their ability to enforce the law county-wide.

“Very little if anything is being done to effectively stem the tide,” said attorney Lance LoRusso, a former police officer and outspoken cop advocate.

He called the situation a crisis when he spoke to commissioners back in February. Now, he wonders, what has changed?

“Right now, there are times when only 50-percent of the patrol beats are getting covered,” he said. “It’s getting worse.”

[tikigod311]

Even with new hires, it looks like the department will have fewer officers on the beat at the end of this year than at the end of last.

If only they had more money to pay for police officers...


Which would actually be, like, uhhh, you know, a legitimate function of county government.

[DawgPark]

Originally Posted by tikigod311

If only they had more money to pay for police officers...


Which would actually be, like, uhhh, you know, a legitimate function of county government.

You guys just can't pass up any chance you get to take a stab at Cobb. Whatever keeps you entertained.

[tikigod311]

Originally Posted by DawgPark

You guys just can't pass up any chance you get to take a stab at Cobb. Whatever keeps you entertained.

You call it a stab, but by all counts, it is a completely legitimate point.

What stands out so much to me is that it seems like citizens in Cobb are so busy cheer-leading they seem to ignore or dismiss bad decisions.

[DawgPark]

Originally Posted by tikigod311

You call it a stab, but by all counts, it is a completely legitimate point.

What stands out so much to me is that it seems like citizens in Cobb are so busy cheer-leading they seem to ignore or dismiss bad decisions.

What stands out to me is that you and 2 others on this board spend so much time cheer-leading the Braves to fail in Cobb. Is it really that important to you?

Give it a rest. Find another hobby. Or another County to pick on. The beaten horse is dead already.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by tikigod311

You call it a stab, but by all counts, it is a completely legitimate point.

What stands out so much to me is that it seems like citizens in Cobb are so busy cheer-leading they seem to ignore or dismiss bad decisions.

Reminds me of the situation here in the city of Atlanta. No money for potholes, sidewalks or playgrounds.

But when it comes to placating a pro sports team, whoa, baby, time to pull out all the stops.

[tikigod311]

Well, I have stated many times that I don't want the Braves or Cobb to fail.

It only seems like I am picking on Cobb because they keep making stupid/corrupt/bad decisions of late.

Why so defensive? Do you like this apparent fact that the number of police is dropping while the county is handing out hundreds of millions of dollars to a private company that DOESN'T need the money? If I lived there, I would be very worried about this becoming a trend. At least write comments on the forum expressing minor dissent. I want to keep Cobb County open an as option to reside in.

[tikigod311]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Reminds me of the situation here in the city of Atlanta. No money for potholes, sidewalks or playgrounds.

But when it comes to placating a pro sports team, whoa, baby, time to pull out all the stops.

But I sure seem to remember boatloads of uproar about the Falcons, from people inside and outside the city.

I guess that is what is so bothersome about the Brave$ville deal. The only people pointing out the flaws are people outside the county, or supposed wackos that take up time at the county commission meetings. I don't think I have heard anyone in favor of the deal even question it.

[jsvh]

I have no issue saying the Falcons deal is flawed. Not sure why Cobb-folks are so instant on pretending everything is perfect there. I would think an under-staffed police force would be a huge concern, not something to down-play. It is an issue that plagued CoA for decades. The city spent years under-staffing their police force and is just now getting to a good level with 2,000 officers for a smaller population than Cobb.

Cobb with less than a fourth of the officers and a larger population seems like a huge risk. I think crime is more about perception and takes years to shift, but if this trend keeps up Cobb could be in a lot of trouble. Once crews start to realize they can get away with things easily in Cobb it could start to cause run-away issues like what happened with crime in major cities in the 70s-90s.

[Gulch]

Braves deal aside, this will not end well for Cobb unless they get staffing up.