When Lakeside City first announced its plans for a city, their board members recited tales of cars left unlocked in driveways that had the GPS stolen or a laptop, left in plain view, taken from inside the car. While not to dismiss the serious nature of any crime, the complaints sounded, at the time, to be minor when compared to crimes we know take place in other parts of our county. But, they still used the same tired excuse for a new city that Dunwoody and Sandy Springs had used years before: More Police!
Keep in mind, we have the second largest police force in the state, and TWO of the FOUR precincts are right near the mall and just off LaVista Road. You can't get better locations.
But, what Lakeside City advocates (now calling themselves LaVista Hills) are missing is that they already received the extra police that they originally said they wanted.
When the North precinct in Dunwoody closed, the majority of the patrol officers were moved to the Central location. There was a noticeable difference in Lakeside and the statistics have proven that the new distribution is working out great.
Some people, who likely heard Sen. Millar say the same thing, have even pointed at Tucker and said their idea of a city was inferior because they "did not want" police. That's not exactly true.
Tucker residents said they did not want to switch from the county to a new city police force because Tucker is satisfied with the job the police are doing.
In fact, city police have been accused more recently of being nothing more than traffic cops expected to hit quotas to help fund the new city expenses and you know what that means... more hidden charges in a new city for you to pay. Wonder why they have those red light cameras? It isn't to take pretty pictures of the sunsets, that's for sure. These are the "officers" that will be watching when your city starts up. Not exactly, "boots on the ground" is it?
But, to make things perfectly clear, here is a simple diagram *see graphic above* that shows the new Lavista Hills boundaries *in black outline and how it will majorly screw up the delivery of police services for a large portion of the county that depends on things working the way they do right now, with the HQ centrally located, right there near the Northlake area.
Lakeside... it is just not possible for you to claim that you don't receive quality police coverage. DeKalb has the second largest force IN THE STATE!
And, compare the locations of the various precincts and you will easily see why Tucker residents, known for being practical in most matters, don't really think that a new city force is something we should be ponying up for. Just LOOK at the fact that there is a Central Precinct AND a Tucker precinct!
Right now, in terms of public safety, we all have it pretty good. And, if Lakeside / Lavista Hills would pay attention, they would know that the headcount on the payroll at their Central Precinct, which is also the county HQ, beefed up considerably in August 2013. That was because Dunwoody and Brookhaven had their own forces and the North precinct was no longer needed.
SO, DeKalb responded to the Lakeside complaints and moved the bulk of those displaced by the northern cities right over to the Central precinct, thus Lakeside can now check THAT big concern off their list of "Why I want a city!"
But, do you see from the map where there WILL be a problem if LaVista/Lakeside starts its own police, without any place for their HQ location, their vehicles or the 911 dispatch center? There are most definitely a sum of residents who currently share this "service area" with Lakeside and those residents are being left HIGH and DRY! Just look where the Central/HQ precinct serves a large number of people indicated in red, and then look at the black outline of their proposed city. HOW would their police help those on the outside of that black line boundary?
It wouldn't help and most likely, it would hurt. WHY do these folks insist on a city that will HURT others? That isn't very neighborly and things are only getting worse if they don't start to realize that every action they make can cause others to react. And, we will all go down together.
DeKalb County does not need more divisions. It needs people who are willing to work together to solve problems and look out for each other. Someone needs to stop this insanity! No matter what you call it or how many ways they slice it, life was better when we did not have to talk about how many more ways we are going to let government control us and take our money. Cities are not the answer.
For an article about the reorganization of the police after the closing of the North precinct, click here.
 |
Map shows how central precinct picked up most police from the closing of the north precinct and how a
large portion of those protected by the police now will be harmed if another precinct is forced to close
and reorganize. And before you criticize the Tucker decision to leave police in the hands of the county,
take a look at how things are currently set up.
|
Keep in mind, we have the second largest police force in the state, and TWO of the FOUR precincts are right near the mall and just off LaVista Road. You can't get better locations.
But, what Lakeside City advocates (now calling themselves LaVista Hills) are missing is that they already received the extra police that they originally said they wanted.
When the North precinct in Dunwoody closed, the majority of the patrol officers were moved to the Central location. There was a noticeable difference in Lakeside and the statistics have proven that the new distribution is working out great.
Some people, who likely heard Sen. Millar say the same thing, have even pointed at Tucker and said their idea of a city was inferior because they "did not want" police. That's not exactly true.
Tucker residents said they did not want to switch from the county to a new city police force because Tucker is satisfied with the job the police are doing.
In fact, city police have been accused more recently of being nothing more than traffic cops expected to hit quotas to help fund the new city expenses and you know what that means... more hidden charges in a new city for you to pay. Wonder why they have those red light cameras? It isn't to take pretty pictures of the sunsets, that's for sure. These are the "officers" that will be watching when your city starts up. Not exactly, "boots on the ground" is it?
But, to make things perfectly clear, here is a simple diagram *see graphic above* that shows the new Lavista Hills boundaries *in black outline and how it will majorly screw up the delivery of police services for a large portion of the county that depends on things working the way they do right now, with the HQ centrally located, right there near the Northlake area.
Lakeside... it is just not possible for you to claim that you don't receive quality police coverage. DeKalb has the second largest force IN THE STATE!
And, compare the locations of the various precincts and you will easily see why Tucker residents, known for being practical in most matters, don't really think that a new city force is something we should be ponying up for. Just LOOK at the fact that there is a Central Precinct AND a Tucker precinct!
Right now, in terms of public safety, we all have it pretty good. And, if Lakeside / Lavista Hills would pay attention, they would know that the headcount on the payroll at their Central Precinct, which is also the county HQ, beefed up considerably in August 2013. That was because Dunwoody and Brookhaven had their own forces and the North precinct was no longer needed.
SO, DeKalb responded to the Lakeside complaints and moved the bulk of those displaced by the northern cities right over to the Central precinct, thus Lakeside can now check THAT big concern off their list of "Why I want a city!"
But, do you see from the map where there WILL be a problem if LaVista/Lakeside starts its own police, without any place for their HQ location, their vehicles or the 911 dispatch center? There are most definitely a sum of residents who currently share this "service area" with Lakeside and those residents are being left HIGH and DRY! Just look where the Central/HQ precinct serves a large number of people indicated in red, and then look at the black outline of their proposed city. HOW would their police help those on the outside of that black line boundary?
It wouldn't help and most likely, it would hurt. WHY do these folks insist on a city that will HURT others? That isn't very neighborly and things are only getting worse if they don't start to realize that every action they make can cause others to react. And, we will all go down together.
DeKalb County does not need more divisions. It needs people who are willing to work together to solve problems and look out for each other. Someone needs to stop this insanity! No matter what you call it or how many ways they slice it, life was better when we did not have to talk about how many more ways we are going to let government control us and take our money. Cities are not the answer.
For an article about the reorganization of the police after the closing of the North precinct, click here.
Comments
Post a Comment