DeKalb Police cancels Dunwoody Meet & Greet at Perimeter Mall

I received an e-mail from the DeKalb County Police, North Precinct notifying me that due to circumstances beyond their control the meet & greet scheduled for Perimeter Mall on July 12th has been postponed indefinitely.

I guess these questions will have to wait for another time?

1) What is wrong with the ranking officers in Dekalb County? I understand that more lower ranking officers (Lt's) have, or will be hired from APD to fill appointed positions. Does this mean that DKPD has better understanding of quality than (a proven Police Chief - see success in both New Orleans and Washington DC) Chief Pennington? Why didn't Chief Pennington promote these Lt's to rank of Major or Deputy Chief?

2) Dekalb County has had over 60 murders before July 1st. This is a record pace. Last year, Dekalb didn't hit 60 until the end of August. How do you intend to keep Dekalb from breaking the murder record for a third consecutive year?

3) We understand that two of Mr. Jones' drivers have been appointed to high ranking positions within the department. Are these appointments special considerations for the outgoing CEO? What qualifications did these officers have other than being the CEO's driver? Were they more qualified than other higher ranking officers who were passed over?

4) How many take home vehicles does the department currently have? How many of those county vehicles are assigned as take home cars to non-sworn police employees?

5) A recent AJC article stated that other jurisdictions are beefing up the police budget to keep trained, experience officers from leaving. What are you doing to keep your officers?

6) Over 1.5 million dollars was spent on mobile precincts. What do they do? Are they equipped with cells, interrogation rooms, radios or computers? Can I go up to a mobile precinct and file a report? It seems that at this time, an officer has to be dispatched to the mobile precinct with a patrol car to file the report? Is it true that they don't have any useful police equipment?

7) Is it true that an officer must be taken off uniform patrol to guard the mobile precinct when it is deployed? I understand that once your ICP officers and Sgt's go home, the team covering that territory is expected to detail an officer to the watch the mobile precinct. I understand from sources that while guarding the precinct, they occupy the time by watching movies on one of the Mobile Home's 2 LCD TV's.

8) What are you doing to improve moral in the Uniform and CID divisions?

9) How often does the computer system used by Uniform patrol to run license plates or suspects and receive their dispatched calls go down? I hear complaints that the new software is usually down and is not as functional as the software it replaced. Was a performance standard part of the negotiations when the software was purchased?

I'm sorry the questions are heavily related to DeKalb's personnel and hiring practices but I have friends in low places and they would like to have some of these questions answered.