APD to add 100 new officers by early 2010

By Bill Rankin

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Police Chief Richard Pennington on Tuesday extolled the drop in Atlanta ’s crime rate and said APD is on track to add 100 new officers by early next year.

Since 2002, Atlanta’s violent crime rate has steadily decreased, Pennington said. This includes a 44 percent drop in the murder rate and a 27 percent drop in robberies, he said.

Pennington made his remarks before the “Crime Is Toast” fundraiser hosted by the Atlanta Police Foundation at the Georgia World Congress Center.

Atlanta now has about 1,650 officers, Pennington said, predicting the force will have 1,751 officers by early next year.

That number is still far short of the department’s long-stated goal of 2,000 officers.

Pennington thanked the nonprofit Atlanta Police Foundation for helping APD with recruitment and training. He applauded the foundation’s efforts behind Crime Stoppers Atlanta, an annonymous tip line that has helped APD solve 24 homicides and clear 133 cases.

The foundation is not “Chief Pennington’s slush fund,” the chief said. “It’s never spent one dime on me. ... It was created to benefit all the men and women of APD — not Chief Pennington.”

Mayor Shirley Franklin also praised the police force for working to make the city a safer place. She cited the recent FBI Uniform Crime Report that shows violent crime is down in Atlanta.

The FBI crime report said that, in 2008, Atlanta posted the 14th-highest crime rate among the nation’s 268 cities with at least 100,000 residents.

Franklin said she will not be completely satisfied until Atlanta is no longer among the top 100 most violent cities.