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AJC.com > Metro > View from the cop > Archives > 2006 > June > 21 > Entry
Really grand opening for new PD
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
We are down to a couple of weeks before the big startup of the Sandy Springs Police Department. As we get closer, more and more ideas have been floated as to how we would begin at 12:01 a.m. on July 1.
Some of the ideas were interesting and some were more like the pre-game on NFL Sunday. I liked the part where the fireballs shot out of the big tubes and the officers would run through the banner on the way to their patrol cars. Then, on cue, they would all flood Roswell Road and drive down the street to the Waffle House.
Why not? I thought it would be fun to hire some gymnasts, dress them in uniforms, and have them do back flips out the office door and to their cars. We tried it, but four of them were knocked out by shoulder microphones that came loose.
Another suggestion was to choreograph it like a musical or better yet, an opera. If they left it with me in charge, it would turn out more like “Naked Gun.” That idea got canned.
Truthfully, most of the ideas tossed around about how we would make our grand entrance were tossed by folks outside the police department. We were a little busy at the time. We have done very well to date. We have cars and the equipment has been arriving. The uniforms look good and the guns work. We received 20 new officers this week and they are now in training. We’ll receive the 35 Fulton officers on the 1st and then we’re off and running — or, in my case, walking at moderate speed.
Shifts are set up so that officers will work 10-hours each day, four days a week and three days off. The shifts will overlap so there will be double-coverage at peak times with the longest double-coverage between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. There will also be extended coverage in the morning hours to handle the accidents.
By the way, please continue having the accidents. We’ve planned around it so don’t change a thing.
In addition, there will be a Special Operations Team called — well we haven’t named them yet. S.O.T. just didn’t sound good. My suggestion was Guys with Neat Equipment and Lots of Guns. They will have more of a flexible role being anything from traffic to crime suppression. I like the part about crime suppression.
Crime suppression is cool. It begins to immediately get some of the riff-raff off the streets and allows guys like me to catch up with all my lawyer buddies at the preliminary hearings. We talk. I say things like, “Hey, nice ponytail.”
I get a lot of e-mail and many questions about where the police department will be located. Here’s how that went. We had this place that we found one day, driving around. It looked good and had enough space to hold our cars so naturally it didn’t work out. We then had this other place but the landlord didn’t want public safety in the building because we’re often seen with criminals so we looked at this other place that looked good, good enough to tell everyone via the local papers. So naturally that fell apart and we’re back to the other place that we were at before. Everything looks really good, so much so that we canceled the tent order.
Realistically you can’t expect all this to just fall into place. Everyone in the police department as well as the city has put forth a lot of effort to get this massive project done and we will be on the street at midnight.
I’m looking forward to July 1. There were a lot of critics who found it easy to say it wouldn’t work and we would never be able to get the officers that we wanted to get.
I’ve noticed they haven’t been saying much lately.
So, here’s the deal. We have several projects to tackle. Street-level crime, residential burglary, business (smash-and-grab) burglaries and a whole bunch of thefts, many of which are from cars. On top of that are the traffic-management problems.
So, how would you approach it? Do we tackle the riff-raff first or what?
Finally, please give us a call if you know how to do back flips.
Comments
Commenting is now closed for this entry.
By Sweepea
June 21, 2006 7:43 AM | Link to this
I LOVE the gymnastics idea! Or yuo could all run out to your cars shouting “Hut, Hut, Hut..” like the SWAT team in the Blues Brothers. Just a thought..
Go after the usual suspects first; with them off the streets your other crimes should decrease automatically.
Love your column! It’s reassuring to know that at least one policeman has a sense of humor - twisted or not!
By Bob
June 21, 2006 8:01 AM | Link to this
Officer visibility and presence is the answer to riff raff disposal and traffic scofflaws. I’ve seen FCPD officer in my neighborhood once in the last year. I expect to see SSPD in my neighborhod and in the shopping centers every day. Neither the riff raff nor the scofflaws speeding through my neighborhood want this to happen. When it does there will be cries of racism and speed traps. The city council will need to stand firm against this pushback.
By julie
June 21, 2006 8:04 AM | Link to this
Personally, I think we should go back to the wild west days, shoot all the crooks and be done with it.
By deegee
June 21, 2006 8:11 AM | Link to this
I vote for tackle the riff-raff. Aren’t they responsible for most of the car break-ins, residential robberies and smash and grabs? What are you going to do with them when you catch them? Will they be back on the street before the ink dries on their paperwork?
By cullen
June 21, 2006 8:52 AM | Link to this
Good luck with your midnight debut. Personally, I think a big dance intro would be pretty cool. Think Monty Python and the Holy Grail style. Instead of singing “we are the knights of the round table�, the officers could sing “we are the police of Sandy Springs�. Just make sure there are no large rabbits near by. It doesn’t make for good news film footage of officers in pretty new uniforms screaming “run away�!
By nametagman
June 21, 2006 8:56 AM | Link to this
When the department catches any criminals, after they haved been “booked in”, put them in a cell with a one way lock. Once they are locked in, they can never get out. Don’t worry about crime going down, for there is always a new jerk criminal coming down the pike. Better have a jail that is secure unlike Fulton County’s. Build it large enough to hold all those illegals plus all thieves, murderers, robbers, rapists, and everything else that commits crimes. Give an incentive to all the officers to catch more criminals; give the officer a dime and watch his/her start being built up.
The above will assure that the citizens of Sandy Springs will be safe for the most part, never having to worry whether or not that looney tune who committed that crime will ever walk the streets of Sandy Springs again.
Good luck for opening up the hunting season.
By Jim Osterman
June 21, 2006 9:28 AM | Link to this
Steve:
Glad to hear things are on schedule. Sorry I can’t do any backflips, but feel free to employ any of the following ideas to debut the new PD:
Free Sandy Springs PD coffee mugs to the first 100 arrested, or….
Free Sandy Springs PD t-shirts to the first 500 traffic violators that read: “I drive my luxury car/SUV like a moron and all I got was this lousy t-shirt”.
Be well, good luck and God bless….
By Randall
June 21, 2006 9:35 AM | Link to this
“Riff-Raff”. What is the city of Sandy Springs’ Definition of “riff-raff” so we know not to “look” like them. You know of course, I could “look” like “riff-raff”, but have a really lot of money….an lawyers…….
By Rose
June 21, 2006 9:54 AM | Link to this
I got a laugh one morning as I was driving in on Roswell Road. An Officer parked his car in the turn lane, got out and started walking back to talk to an stranded motorist, then he had to run and catch his car, that wasn’t in park. Cool
By Mike
June 21, 2006 10:31 AM | Link to this
If you can get hold of a DVD of the TV “classic” Cop Rock, it might provide some musically driven ideas.
By Jim
June 21, 2006 10:42 AM | Link to this
Be careful about tackling anything, much less riff-raff. Walking at moderate speed you could be responsible for stopping at the 7-11 to pick up the complementary coffee for the firefighters on your way to directing traffic around our hoselines. Thanks again for being there to keep us from getting hit by the morons you couldn’t catch by walking at moderate speed.
By Blue_Kolla
June 21, 2006 10:45 AM | Link to this
Now this is interesting… Personally I think that all of these little mini-me governments in the metro should all be demolished and absorbed into one city/county of Atlanta. The present seperatism movement is taxing, to say the least.
Then put the beat cops back out to actually socialize, bond with, and protect the community. It might actually bring back a little bit of faith in the men in blue.
And lastly, I’m down with swift justice to be carried out on the courthouse steps, saturday morning at 12:00 sharp, in the form of “caning”. That’ll stop some of this “riff raff” that you guy speak about; that is if that’s who you really speak about.
By Mark
June 21, 2006 11:14 AM | Link to this
hey Steve,
I’ve been reading your blog for a while now, and I get a good laugh from it, even if sometimes I don’t necessarily agree with something you said. I don’t have any ideas for your big Debut, but I do want to wish you and your fellow police officers “Good Luck and Godspeed.”
By Resides in Acworth
June 21, 2006 11:54 AM | Link to this
Do the Super Troopers thing and have the cops tell someone to “pull over” and once they have, let the cop drive away and then come roaring back as they still sit on the side of the road and start screming “pull over!” I’ll bet no one does anything wrong in Sandy Springs after that gets around!
By GERALD
June 21, 2006 11:55 AM | Link to this
PLAYING THE THEME SONG FROM “COPS” AS YOU MARCH IN FORMATION TO THE CARS AND THEN STAND BY THEIR DESIGNATED CARS UNTIL THE POLICE CHIEF YELLS…….”GENTLEMEN….START YOUR ENGINES” AND THEN HE YELLS THE COMMAND “SEEK” AS YOU PULL OUT. FOR THE FIRST CAPTURE AND BOOKING OF A CRIMINAL…..A BOX OF DOUGHNUTS TO THE OFFICER.
By just passing through
June 21, 2006 12:23 PM | Link to this
Good luck with the Midnight start… just a quick reminder though… suicide by cop ruins a good cop’s day.
By Bob
June 21, 2006 3:23 PM | Link to this
For your grand opening, I think you should all march out is single file, holding high your one “Barney Fife Bullet”, place said bullet in your shirt pocket, get into your cars, and with lights and sirens blaring, all immediately pull into the nearest Dunkin Donuts, or Crispey Kreeme store. But most of all, be careful and congratulations on a well deserved start up. We’re praying for you.
By CoachRick
June 21, 2006 3:39 PM | Link to this
Please have a patrol car drive through the city’s largest tennis center on an hourly basis. That alone could net a few break-in suspects in short order. Then, one patrol car could drive up/down Roswell Rd. handing out tickets to the 90% of drivers who can’t comprehend “No Turn On Red” while exiting Sandy Springs Circle, Johnson Ferry and others. Good luck and happy hunting!
By Gail
June 22, 2006 9:34 AM | Link to this
Love your column and wish you lots of luck. Ihave a question. When an officer is undercover, such as a female officer in a prostitution sting, if the prospective “john” asks if she is an officer, does she have to respond truthfully. This is an ongoing debate with a family member.
By Bill
June 22, 2006 9:36 AM | Link to this
After trying to picture Chief Wilson leading his troops in the back flips, I think it would be best to just calmly walk to your cars and go to work.
By Sandynista
June 22, 2006 3:22 PM | Link to this
So where is the new PD? Carpenter Dr. or Barfield Rd.? I’ve heard/read that both locations were considered. I live at Laurel Grove on Carpenter (the old Sands Apartments; you’ve got to have heard of that place!), and some of our homeowners were wondering what the PD right across the street from us will mean for our little corner of the universe.
I figure if it’s the Carpenter Dr. location, we’ll either be the safest neighborhood in SS, or else we’ll need to install phaser banks and photon torpedos stat! I suppose Neighborhood Watch can’t help with those, huh?
By Elizabeth
June 22, 2006 6:00 PM | Link to this
You wouldn’t happen to need a Health and Safety Coordinator would you? [Someone who can teach First Aid/CPR/AED, PRIDE (Parents Reducing Incidents of Driver Error), CERT, etc.] I’m in the market for such a job!
By Lt. Steve
June 22, 2006 6:40 PM | Link to this
Man, these are good comments. I think it’s planned to have a grand entrance on Roswell Road but we’ll probably already have the watch out on the street so as not to have everyone in the same place come midnight. The burglars would love that. I wanted to answer Gail’s question. It has been a long-standing urban legend that if you were working undercover, that you had to admit if you were a police officer if asked, lets say during a drug deal or, in her example, a vice detail. You don’t although a couple of times we said yes to the question. They guy looked at us and then laughed, we laughed, and he laughed, and we laughed, and he sold the dope and off he went to jail. Honestly, there are so many whacked out guys selling dope that sometimes they can’t remember that you had already arrested them a couple of months ago. Riff-Raff is based on the neighborhood you’re in. For instance, in Sandy Springs, it could be your standard riff-raff, more commonly known as ($#^#%)or other names. In the more fashionable areas of Roswell and Alpharetta, riff-raff includes all those who own BMW’s five years or older.