Police Chief Proposes Adding 18 New Staff Over Next Five Years

Dunwoody Police Chief Billy Grogan asked for some help Friday.

Grogan asked the Dunwoody City Council for more staff in his department at the council’s retreat.

The council's retreat, held Friday, is meant to look at long-term issues, policy and plans for the city.

Grogan's proposal would add a total of 18 new staff members to the police department between 2012 and 2017.

Here is the five year staffing priorities and cost:

2013- 1 sergeant, three officers on crime response team - $480,622

2014- 3 majors, accreditation manager, crime analyst - $396,501

2015 – 1 detective, 1 officer, 1 community outreach officer - $339,522

2016 – 1 lieutenant homeland security/investigations, 1 fleet maintenance and equipment civilian, 1 detective - $286,999

2017- 1 detective, 2 officers - $346,636

Compared to several area cities of similar size, the department’s staffing is relatively small (see chart below for full numbers).

As to crimes per officer, Dunwoody averages 39. The average for similar sized cities is 18.

In terms of officers per 1,000 citizens, Dunwoody sits at 0.99, while cities of similar size average around 2.06 (Sandy Springs has 1.36).

With this proposal City Manager Warren Hutmacher suggested the council not look at each personnel decision, but rather look at establishing budget targets.

“Maybe one way to think about this is to put it in a broader context,” he said.

Hutmacher said the council could look at a certain percentage of budget growth each year.

Mayor Mike Davis agreed and said the department obviously needs additional staff.

“I have to agree that we have to grow this a little bit,” he said. “Agreeing to a stepped up increase, a couple percent a year, is doable in my book.”

Councilman Denis Shortal said he’s fine with additions, but he’d like to see those be visible.

“My emphasis if we are going to do anything with this is it creates more boots on the ground,” said Shortal.

Councilman Doug Thompson said he’s in favor of adding the four officers for the special crime until in 2012, but he’s not sure putting in a set percentage increase each year is the best idea.

“If the budget is stagnant and we increase the police budget by 2 percent each year, it limits us in other areas,” Thompson said.

Department

Pop

Sworn

Officers Per 1,000

Part 1 Crime

Part 1 Crime per 10,000

Prop CRIME

1,000

Viol CRIME

1,000

Crimes

Per

Off

Crimes Per

SM

Dunwoody

46,267

46

.99

1,794

388

36.53

2.25

39

148.3

Alpharetta

57,551

106

1.84

1,516

263

25.49

.85

14.3

70.8

Marietta

56,579

139

2.46

2,963

587

50.50

8.17

23.9

143.1

Smyrna

51,271

87

1.70

2,127

415

35.77

6.28

24.4

141.8

Peachtree City

34,364

63

1.83

487

142

13.82

.35

10.5

28.4

Dalton

34,299

86

2.51

1,258

367

34.46

2.22

15.7

68.2

Kennesaw

33,060

59

1.78

546

165

17.66

.67

10.8

68.0

Douglasville

32,586

74

2.27

2,382

731

66.69

6.41

32.2

111.3

Avg of 7

42,816

86

2.06

1,662

381

35

4

18

87

Sandy Springs

93,853

127

1.35

2,855

304

28.41

2.01

22.5

75.7