County Police Departments vs. Sheriff Departments

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by jero23

Exactly. It's too much about local control here to the point this shuffling of resources from one side to another is a zero-sum game for everyone. The politics of small town thinking ought to be taken out of law enforcement for a larger urbanized region.

I think the politics of a region wide police force would be difficult.

For instance, let's say we did that and the new HQ was in Kennesaw and the sheriff of Gwinnett was selected as chief.

Would folks in Clayton be okay with that?

[PKCorey]

Originally Posted by skbl17

Here's a great piece on the difference between county police, sheriffs, marshals, and the various kinds of public safety departments in Georgia.

- skbl17

Who knew that any police officer can pull you over in the state of GA?

Guess, I better stop passing them when they are out of their jurisdiction on the highway then .

[PKCorey]

The Governor just announced that State Law Enforcement will get a 20% pay increase starting 1/1/17.

[jero23]

Originally Posted by arjay57

I think the politics of a region wide police force would be difficult.

For instance, let's say we did that and the new HQ was in Kennesaw and the sheriff of Gwinnett was selected as chief.

Would folks in Clayton be okay with that?

The reasonable location of the HQ would be in Atlanta since that is more geographically the center of the region. There are always going to be naysayers, but they'll get over it. They chose to live in a highly populated and increasingly urbanized region.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by jero23

The reasonable location of the HQ would be in Atlanta since that is more geographically the center of the region. There are always going to be naysayers, but they'll get over it. They chose to live in a highly populated and increasingly urbanized region.

Would Gwinnetians, Cobbites, Forsythians and Fayettevillers be okay with having their police run out of the city of Atlanta?

Would Zone 3 in the city of Atlanta be happy with having their police based in Sandy Springs?

Could be, but it would probably take some negotiation.

[jero23]

Originally Posted by arjay57

Would Gwinnetians, Cobbites, Forsythians and Fayettevillers be okay with having their police run out of the city of Atlanta?

Would Zone 3 in the city of Atlanta be happy with having their police based in Sandy Springs?

Could be, but it would probably take some negotiation.

It would be located in Atlanta, not run out of the City of Atlanta.

[therealpattman]

In a dream world Cobb, Clayton, Fulton, Dekalb, and Gwinnett would all function as one united area sharing MARTA and local agencies like Law Enforcement Departments and Fire. As for Law Enforcement, each county could elect their own representative to a board as well as elect the combined police chief who would be over everything. The representatives would fall under the chief and be directly responsible for their district or county. You could even have the mayors and chair's from all counties and cities form a joint governing body to govern such departments and perhaps even MARTA.

[arjay57]

Originally Posted by dpatt.marine1

In a dream world Cobb, Clayton, Fulton, Dekalb, and Gwinnett would all function as one united area sharing MARTA and local agencies like Law Enforcement Departments and Fire. As for Law Enforcement, each county could elect their own representative to a board as well as elect the combined police chief who would be over everything. The representatives would fall under the chief and be directly responsible for their district or county. You could even have the mayors and chair's from all counties and cities form a joint governing body to govern such departments and perhaps even MARTA.

That begs the question as to whether huge sprawling bureaucracies are more efficient and responsive than smaller local governments.

As a city of Atlanta resident I'd prefer to keep our police force and its governance as it is. We're big enough to achieve economies of scale. At the same time, we're able to easily interact with the department and its line officers and top brass. Our jurisdiction is diverse in terms of economy, density, housing patterns, culture and ethnicity; with local governance we're able to tailor our policing to our particular needs.

[ElleKaye]

Originally Posted by PKCorey

The Governor just announced that State Law Enforcement will get a 20% pay increase starting 1/1/17.

That's a raise you can feel. Even if it doesn't raise you to where you think you should be, you will notice it is there.

[PKCorey]

Originally Posted by ElleKaye

That's a raise you can feel. Even if it doesn't raise you to where you think you should be, you will notice it is there.

Definitely.

I was shocked how crappy the pay scale is for the DPS. Starting troopers pay was/is $35k.

The max pay is in the 50's.

I guess, this is what happens when you don't have a collective bargaining deal for law enforcement.