Increased Police Protection of Our NeighborhoodDHP officers supplement the existing Dekalb County and Atlanta Police Departments and provide a visible police presence in Druid Hills.
Community policing has changed and the trend now is for neighborhoods to start and support private patrols staffed by law enforcement officers. Beat officers prioritize their tasks and routine patrols are not happening as often.
Police officers must prioritize 911 calls over routine patrols, and demand on police services may pull officers into other areas.
Open this link and examine the geographical area that our DeKalb Territory (beat) covers. Consider that a single officer serves this area during each shift. Backup officers are available within each larger precinct; however, if the assigned beat officer is already responding to a call when another comes in, a backup officer would have to be pulled from another beat. S/he may have to leave another (lower priority) call or travel across the multi-beat precinct or even travel from another precinct, and that can cause delays in response time. The same is true of Atlanta Police beat officers.
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Our officers’ ONLY assignment is to deter crime in the coverage area and monitor police radio for emergencies IN DRUID HILLS. When they are already patrolling the neighborhood, they usually respond faster than DKPD or APD officers. If a member suffers a theft or break-in, our officers serve as advocates with the police department to ensure that the member receives the follow-up and attention s/he needs.