Bike Cops To Join Buckhead Security Plan

ATLANTA — Buckhead residents and businesses want to tamp down crime. Two-wheeled police help is on the way.

As part of the ongoing development of the Buckhead Security Plan, the Buckhead Community Improvement District announced plans for a bicycle unit to patrol the area.

Through a continuing partnership with the Atlanta Police Department, four off-duty Bicycle Response Team officers will patrol the community weekdays between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. to beef up police presence in the Department’s Zone 2, the BCID announced.

“We’re committed to continuing security improvements in our community,” said BCID executive director and Buckhead Coalition President Jim Durrett. “This investment gives APD Zone 2 another way to provide community-oriented, visible policing within the densest parts of Buckhead.”

The Buckhead Security Plan is the result of a partnership that includes Atlanta Police, the Buckhead Coalition, the BCID, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottom’s Office and the Liveable Buckhead with the goal of reducing crime that has appeared to be on an uptick in the last year despite an overall downturn in crime in Atlanta.

The $1.9 million plan offers a range of proposals from an expansive synchronized grid of surveillance cameras throughout the community and investment in Crime Stopper rewards to lobbying for procedural and ordinance reform and a pilot program that would utilize drones to patrol Lennox Square Mall.

Already, funding has gone to providing supplemental patrol officers and vehicles — includes three off-duty officers and two “co-branded” police cruisers — six days a week from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. along Buckhead’s commercial core to back up Atlanta officers already on duty.

“We approached the Buckhead CID to explore the addition of a bike patrol to complement the supplemental police patrol vehicles,” APD Zone 2 Commander Maj. Andrew Senzer said. “The bike patrol will help us deter crime in areas that are more difficult to patrol in vehicles, such as parking garages and parking lots.”

As some community and business members cite security concerns as a primary cause to break from the city, Buckhead leaders like BCID board chairman Thad Ellis see it as an opportunity to work with Atlanta leaders.

“The bike patrol exemplifies how our partnership with the Atlanta Police Department is taking direct action to reverse recent trends for the benefit of everyone who lives in, works in and visits Buckhead,” Ellis said Thad.