At the Atlanta Police Department, Sgt. Dennis Mullen was the fixer, the man officers tried to steal for their own.

Sgt. Mullen brought administrative order to internal affairs, the Zone 3 precinct and everything to do with the department's vehicles, among other assignments in his 34-year career, including time with the Red Dog drug task force.

Staff / 1996 photo (ENLARGE)

Officer Dennis Mullen watches over Bruce Springsteen fans waiting for tickets to go on sale at the Fox Theatre. He considered himself a peace officer first and sought ways to make other people's lives easier, says his wife, Connie Mullen. 'So many nice things he did as a matter of course,' she says.

When a thousand or so government leaders from all over the world convene in Atlanta Aug. 17-19 for the Americas Competitiveness Forum, they will move around town using a transportation plan prepared by Sgt. Mullen.

"He had already done the plan. We'll just follow the blueprint," said APD fleet management division supervisor Lt. Tim Ewing of Atlanta.

APD Maj. Siobhan O'Brien of Woodstock dubbed Sgt. Mullen Mr. Fix It. "Wherever he went, he would fix things," she said. "He would evaluate the situation, create a plan and fix whatever the problem was. He wouldn't stop till it was fixed." Maj. O'Brien pulled him into her command twice to organize internal affairs and her precinct.

"I actually stole him from Red Dog," she admitted.

Lt. Ewing was quick to admit, too, that everybody wanted to steal Sgt. Mullen away from his department. "He is so exact in everything he does," he said. "He was a perfectionist. If it wasn't right, he wouldn't leave work until perfection had been reached. He worked ungodly hours.

"You just don't know how incredible he was."

The funeral for Dennis Patrick Mullen, 56, of Jonesboro is 11 a.m. Tuesday at St. Philip Benizi Catholic Church. He died at Piedmont Hospital on Thursday of complications following open heart surgery in May. Horis A. Ward, Tara Chapel, is in charge of arrangements.

In fleet management, Sgt. Mullen saved the department hundreds of thousands of dollars, Lt. Ewing said. He fixed two major division problems. He ensured that every seized vehicle went through the proper court procedure. Whenever a Police Department vehicle was damaged by a citizen, Sgt. Mullen made sure the city got restitution.

"Before Dennis came, that money would just die on the vine," Lt. Ewing said. "He was just so reliable, so honest, so forthright. I outranked Dennis, but I did not try to compete with him. I was out of my lane."

For more than 20 years, Inman Park relied on Sgt. Mullen to provide incident-free security for the Inman Park Festival, said chairman Danny Feig of Atlanta. The neighborhood raised $1,000 to assist Sgt. Mullen's family after his surgery.

"If you worked one job with him, you never wanted him to leave," Maj. O'Brien said.

His relaxation was camping in the snow in January, said his wife, Connie Mullen. A Boy Scout master at 20, "he had a real gift for bringing out kids who were marginalized in life," she said. He never missed a political debate or failed to vote. He relaxed watching the History Channel or got his belly laughs from "Family Guy."

He considered himself a peace officer first and looked for ways to make other people's lives easier, his wife said.

"He always went the extra mile for people," she said. "So many nice things he did as a matter of course."

Other survivors include three sons, Timothy Mullen of Locust Grove, Adam Mullen of Augusta and Rory Mullen of McDonough; two daughters, Kara Mullen of McDonough and Caitlin Mullen of Jonesboro; his mother, Jacqueline Mullen of Conyers; two sisters, Kathy Stowers of Conyers

and Jackie Norton of Cumming; a brother, James "Gil" Mullen of Florida; and a grandson.