Cobb wants to hire more than 200 cops by 2017

Former Cobb County public safety director Jack Forsythe resigned in frustration this year, convinced County Manager David Hankerson and Commission Chairman Tim Lee had no interest in helping the police staunch the exodus of officers leaving the department for better pay and benefits.

Seven months later, the county will finally begin addressing those issues when commissioners approve a $340 million general fund budget that increases police department spending by $3 million over the current year.

But fully staffing and equiping the department — which will require hiring and training 232 officers, along with buying 230 patrol cars — won’t be complete until January 2017, or just three months before the new Atlanta Braves stadium opens, according to a department improvement plan obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution under Georgia’s Open Records Act.