Shirley Franklin: Atlanta is ‘safer now than it has been in decades’

On Feb. 9, the AJC published an analysis that provided some useful statistics comparing the city of Atlanta’s police force with eight cities of similar size. It generally confirms that we have made significant progress in increasing the size of our sworn officer force (adding over 300 officers since 2001). It also indicates that the city is reasonably staffed when we are compared to peer cities.

The proof is in the results.

While much of the recent conversation on public safety in the city has focused on the number of police officers and the recent furlough, the violent crime rate is down 38 percent since 2002 and the total crime rate is down 23 percent over that period. It is down 7 percent in 2009. The city is safer now than it has been in decades. Let’s not lose sight of the fact that ultimately it is the level of crime that is important, not the number of police officers.

Comparisons to other cities are very helpful, but they do not tell the whole story. For example, unlike the peer cities listed in the AJC article (putting aside Washington, D.C., which effectively is its own city, county and state and therefore not really a peer city) the city of Atlanta encompasses only 10 percent of the metro region yet must provide security to most of the metro area’s urban assets such as museums and government facilities. We have a large influx of workers and students each day whose security we are responsible for. We host four major sports teams and a variety of festivals and events that have to be secured. We also provide police services at the world’s busiest airport. We do all of this on the narrow tax base derived from 10 percent of the metro population. These factors can skew comparisons to other cities because it is not just a city’s population or geography that determines its public safety needs, but the intensity of its use.

Should the city invest in more officers? Without question. We would be more effective if we had 2,000 police officers. But it is important to note that the city will continue to be safe regardless. The huge strides we have made in reducing crime in the city have been made without that number of police officers. And we have every reason to believe that the programs put in place by Chief Richard Pennington and his staff will continue to yield results and that crime will continue to go down.

• Shirley Franklin is mayor of Atlanta.