Georgia’s newest police force debuts

A parade of 40 police cruisers — blue lights shining and sirens chirping — rolled out on the streets of Dunwoody at midnight Wednesday.

The noise drew the attention of apartment dwellers overlooking the lot of the brand new police force headquarters on Perimeter Center East and garnered applause from residents and city workers on the sidelines.

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Johnny Crawford/jcrawford@ajc.com

Dunwoody Police Chief Billy Grogan takes the oath of office Tuesday night.

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[an error occurred while processing this directive]    • DeKalb County news

“You only get one chance to make a first impression. I know each one of you is up to the task,” Chief Billy Grogan said to 47 sworn officers and civilians gathered for the launch of Georgia’s newest police force.

The start up took just about three months after the city hired Grogan. Officials worked feverishly to meet the April 1 deadline, pushing some items to the last minute.

For instance, the officers’ name tags arrived just Tuesday morning, hours before a special swearing-in ceremony at the Dunwoody Farmhouse that drew hundreds of supportive residents.

City manager Warren Hutmacher said the city had successfully pulled off the fastest roll-out of a police department in the country, which drew murmurs of approval from the crowd.

Many residents in the northern DeKalb County city voted to incorporate last year in large part because of public safety concerns.

“They did a great job in a short amount of time,” said Cheryl Summers, who showed up at the launch with camera in hand.

Summers was on the city’s police task force, which worked for more than a year to draft guidelines on how to build the department. Grogan and other police leaders credit the task force with making it possible to be on the streets so quickly.

And quick they were. Several cruisers returned to headquarters within 10 minutes of the launch, bringing back local leaders who were riding along for the inauguration.

But by 12:15 a.m., one of the patrol cars had already pulled over a speeder, said city councilman Danny Ross.

“This is exciting,” he said. “It’s just great to see.”

There was more to see later on Wednesday. Grogan and several officers were scheduled to escort students walking to Kingsley Elementary School at 7 a.m. as part of the Walking School Bus program.