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Political Insider

Kasim Reed says he can deliver 750 more cops — Lisa Borders says he’s dreaming

6:56 pm November 1, 2009, by jgalloway

After Mary Norwood’s Republicanism, the hottest topic in the AJC/WSB mayoral debate was public safety.

The target was not Norwood, but Kasim Reed. Both Lisa Borders and Jesse Spikes went after the former state senator, refusing to concede him the second spot in any runoff after Tuesday.

A panelist asked Reed whether his call for 750 new police officers was realistic, and financially feasible. Reed pointed to a recent 43 percent hike in property taxes. “The money that is not used in debt service or pension obligations, I will redirect to hire more police,” he said.

Borders said it wasn’t possible. “The capacity of the police academy is 150 to 170 (officers) a year. So even if you did that math for four years, that’s only 680. If we could do that. What I will tell you – we can’t. There is no way to do that,” she said. “There are no extra dollars.”

Said Spikes: “Mr. Reed would have you believe that there’s a pot of money sitting over there that you can simply redirect. That’s simply not the case.”

Reed said that Spikes “could not be more wrong. The current council votes do not bind the budget for next year.”

Reed also rebutted Borders contention on police academy production as a ruling factor in production. “She’s flatly wrong,” he said. “In ‘07 and ‘08, the police department recruited 200 officers in both years. So it can be done. It just hasn’t been done.”

Borders sharp rebuttal: “Here’s the bigger issue. The fact of the matter is the attrition rate is over 250 officers a year. So to get to the 750 number is impossible,” she said. “We need someone who can actually do the math in this job. If you’re going to manage the budget, you’ve got to to be able to do more than read Excel or have someone share it with you.”

Oooh, snap.

Editor’s note: Given the impending Atlanta mayoral election, instant commenting has been closed on the Political Insider blog. Readers are invited to submit comments on all posts, which will be published as soon as possible after review.

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17 comments Add your comment

Donny Fairlplay

November 1st, 2009
7:31 pm

I’d suggest people to look to the city’s website to find out if this is true. If Borders is right about this then Reed’s goose might be cooked. Public safety is too important to not know that number.

Charlie

November 1st, 2009
7:56 pm

Lisa Borders obviously does not like Reed’s assertion. However, I think Reed is more optimistic with his predictions. The mayor has its job already cut out. However, I want someone who is optimistic and not pessimistic. Reed is my choice.

Poncey Person

November 1st, 2009
8:01 pm

I guess I missed it? There was no mention of the Airport or the Delta contract or the concession contracts???

Norwood sounded even more lame. Spikes is the best person for the job – can we give him enough votes to turn the ship around????

Frank

November 1st, 2009
8:03 pm

I agree. Jessie is the best qualified. He speaks better than any of the other candidates. Go Jessie!!!!!!

Donny Fairlplay

November 1st, 2009
8:04 pm

Just did a check and Borders is right.

GrayBraden

November 1st, 2009
8:14 pm

It makes sense to me that the budget could be redone once a new mayor comes in. I think the old council has run out of answers to this guy. Did he do all of things in the state for the city? I am looking up his record but is there a place to look at their records side by side on things done for the city. I want to vote on that not this he say back and forth. He does seem capable-even more than Borders. Norwood is like my aunt Judy she is always talking round in circles about what she has going on. But I need to read the real stuff now-I m tired of the talk.

I said NO

November 1st, 2009
8:57 pm

Saying “No” or “I can’t” was not allowed when I was a kid.

You need to be more creative and stop limiting the citizens of Atlanta!

No one said the mayor’s job was easy. You have already given up when you say things are impossible!

RY

November 1st, 2009
9:01 pm

Reed has no insight on how policing is done……Lisa has done her leg work………..Lisa was the only Canidate that I know of showing up at precincts…………She knows whats going on in the department and she has the tools to fix it…….

an interested Fulton Co voter

November 1st, 2009
9:06 pm

Spikes is the only one with the clear vision. Reed is not right. And, why was there no discussion about the airport contracts?? This is major to the city and TOO HOT TO HANDLE???

midtownsk

November 1st, 2009
9:38 pm

Not that it should decide the mayoral race, but is the attrition rate of APD really 250 per year? Is the city paying for the training of those officers, via the academy, who then leave, or do they come from other police departments? Can anyone elaborate?

Sgt. Scott Kreher, President IBPO Local 623

November 1st, 2009
10:34 pm

As President of the IBPO (the recognized labor union for the APD) Lisa Borders is dead right. Senator Reed is mistaken if he thinks we can recruit, hire and train 750 officers in 4 years. The most recent ATLstat report put out by the administration puts APD attrition at 13%! The national average is below 5%. We are set to loose over 130 officers in the next 18 months to retirement alone. We are currently losing between 10-20 officers a month to attrition. Lisa Borders is the only candidate that has the knowledge and ability to get the police department where it needs to be. Senator Reed should also be careful in trying to push hundreds of candidates through the hiring process. If we loosen our standards to hire 750 officers our department and city will pay the price. That’s why over 1,100 women and men of the IBPO have endorsed Lisa Borders. Dont’ be fooled by false promises.

afghan

November 1st, 2009
10:35 pm

The fact still remains we need those officers. So if it’s room for 170 a year or 200 I believe Kasim Reed will ensure that Atlanta has enough policemen to patrol, protect and serve our streets. People we have for the last 8 years dealt with a city council who only complains or speaks out when the public cries out. If they really cared our policemen and firefighters would have never been furloughed in the first place.

JB

November 1st, 2009
11:51 pm

@midtownsk

I don’t if the number is right but the attrition rate is very high due other local jurisdictions paying more than Atlanta. So, yes, we do train officers in the City who then leave for other local police forces. To make matters worse, many new hires that docn’t come through APD training are paid more than officers who are senior to them, creating significant morale problems on the force.

Atlanta

November 2nd, 2009
12:33 am

@midtownsk – it’s a combination of both. The City of Atlanta has the best training facility in the region, but we don’t pay our public safety workers as much as surrounding jurisdictions with lower costs of living. So it’s not hard for those surrounding jurisdictions to recruit out of the APD.

@I said NO – the citizens of Atlanta deserve the truth based around facts and realizable objectives . Mr. Reed is either horribly uninformed or flat out lying and that is not in the best interest of Atlanta. He didn’t know how many officers the academy could actually train a year, he didn’t know about the attrition rate of 250 officers a year, and I’m sure he doesn’t know that the academy has around a 70% graduation rate. Given these parameters, he would need to train somewhere around 2,000 officers over four years to achieve his goal of a net increase of 750 officers in his first term. Impossible. Reed is in over his head and viewers saw that tonight.

Donny Fairlplay

November 2nd, 2009
6:45 am

@midtownask,

The city is paying to train officers that very soon leave to work outside the city. THE ATTRITION RATE IS THAT HIGH. Borders has proposed using APD’s train facilities as “regional training facilities” and charging our neighboring jurisdictions for our training services since our officers are so well trained when they leave.

Chris Murphy, Atlanta, GA

November 2nd, 2009
7:56 am

Yes,, the city essentially pays to train other jurisdiction’s police forces. They have a tough time finding capable recruits, and after 2-3 years, other places will pay them more as they are then experienced officers. Then, there are retirements and those that leave later in their careers, so the APD needs to replace a hefty percentage of their force, every year.
An you imagine the career prospects when you are working for Chiefs like Eldrin Bell, Beverly Harvard or Richard Pennington (the last 3 Chiefs)? The instability and lack of good management drive away plenty of officers.
All of Reed’s figures on the APD are a pipe dream.
But listen: it’s not the number of cops that is crucial, it’s the number of repeat offenders let loose on us by the courts.

Midtown Momma

November 2nd, 2009
9:12 am

So if the attrition rate is 250 officers a year, obviously we need to work on a retention plan. Kasim Reed has also addressed how to keep the officers we train. He is not misinformed; he just can walk and chew gum at the same time! Hiring officers plus better retention of existing officers equals a larger police force. Go Kasim!