Just in time for the Jan. 8 College Football Playoff National Championship at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the Sandy Springs City Council has approved a mutual aid and assistance agreement so that its police officers can helped their counterparts in Atlanta on game day
The Atlanta Police Department asked Sandy Springs police to assist at the Georgia vs. Alabama game, Police Chief Ken DeSimone told the council. Sandy Springs expects to send six to eight officers with tactical expertise.
The two cities’ fire departments have a mutual aid agreement, and the police have informally aided each other in emergencies in the past – Atlanta provided its helicopter and bomb squad in 2017, for example – “but this is a planned event, so we want to make sure we’re doing it by the book and according to Georgia law,” DeSimone said.
The agreement establishes policies and procedures to be followed when a request for assistance is made, according to a staff report to the council.
The police chief will assess resources and will provide personnel, equipment and specialized units to the extent possible without jeopardizing primary services to the community, staff said. Each city will be responsible for its own employees’ compensation and benefits and for injuries to personnel, and there is no liability to either city for failure to respond.
The agreement runs through June 30, with automatic annual renewals unless either city gives at least 90 days’ notice to the contrary.
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