The Atlanta police have pulled out their chalk to redraw the lines, or beats, that define the territory for patrolling officers.
Since 2004, the last time the lines were redrawn, the city's 66 police beats have become imbalanced, resulting in overworked cops in some parts of town -- and bored cops in others.
The busiest beat, 408 in the south end of southwest Atlanta, had the most, and most complicated, service calls, requiring 87 percent more work from the beat cops there, according to the Atlanta Police Department's calculations.
Meanwhile, the slowest beat, 210 in Buckhead along the Chattahoochee River and I-75, demanded 23 percent of the average workload.
Early last year, the Atlanta City Council called for new police lines. The council adopted a resolution that said Atlantans, mainly in the city's southwest and east sides, had expressed "profound fears" about "decreased police availability and slow response time." The resolution wanted new lines that "more equitably distribute workload."
Police Chief George Turner has responded with a plan that shrinks some beats and moves others from one of the city's six zones to another. The plan also adds a dozen beats and takes advantage of 60 new officer hires already funded in the city budget.
Three quarters of the new officers will end up in Buckhead, west Atlanta and southwest Atlanta.
Police have been rolling out their plan at meetings across the city this month. The last meeting is Thursday. It will focus on the changes in Zone 6 on the city's east side, where some of the biggest territory swaps will occur. Buckhead, the slowest of the six zones, will pick up some neighborhoods from the east Atlanta zone, with the dividing line moving south to Amsterdam Avenue. East Atlanta will in turn collect territory from Midtown, one of the busiest areas for police.
The new beats are expected to be implemented by year's end.
Thursday's meeting is at 7 p.m. at The Entrepreneurium, 1599-A Memorial Drive.
Learn more about the plans online by clicking here and here.
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