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Members of the Dunwoody Police Department.
In April, the City Council approved
plans for a federal grant, the Commu
nity Development Block Grant (CDBG),
which aims to assist economically dis
advantaged areas of the city. One of
the projects that falls under the grant’s
umbrella is “Neighborhood Safety.” Ac
cording to the CDBG plan, this project
aims to put money towards neighbor
hood programs and activities that will
help improve public safety.
Sigman said the city has not yet im
plemented the grant plans.
Dunwoody
In Dunwoody’s 2022 budget, which
the City Council approved on Oct. 25,
the city increased the starting salary for
police officers with a high school diplo
ma from $44,567 to $46,350. The start
ing salary for officers with master’s de
grees is up from $48,317 to $50,100, and
the council also approved a hiring sala
ry scale based on education and expe
rience for these positions moving for
ward.
Also included in Dunwoody’s 2022
budget is the use of $105,000 for the ad
dition of a new code enforcement offi
cer, making for three in total.
City spokesperson Jennifer Boettch
er provided more details about the
scale of the pay increases that Dun
woody has approved for police officers
recently, clarifying that Dunwoody po
lice officers and sergeants received on
average a 10% salary increase in Octo
ber. Earlier In March of 2021, officers
received what’s called a Cost of Living
Adjustment (COLA) in the amount of
2%. In January of 2022, officers and ser
geants will receive another 3% market
adjustment pay increase.
“The recent pay adjustments ap
proved by the City Council further con
firmed the Council’s continued com
mitment to attracting and retaining the
best police officers possible,” said Dun
woody Police Chief Billy Grogan in an
emailed statement.
Sandy Springs
In October of 2020, Sandy Springs
officials announced the city complet
ed a $10.9 million purchase for a new
public safety building. The city hired a
construction manager for the building,
which will be located at 620 Morgan
Falls Road, in September of this year.
In a previous interview, Sandy
Springs Police Chief Kenneth DeSim
one said the police department’s cur
rent headquarters has a lot of issues,
and he believed a new building would
help with recruitment.
“If you’re a 22 [or] 23-year-old young
man or young woman straight out of
college, straight out of the military or
in your first big job, you want to go
somewhere that’s nice,” DeSimone said.
In September of this year, the San
dy Springs City Council approved an
additional 20% pay increase for low
er ranking officers. In November, the
council also approved an application
for a $1,000 one-time pay supplement
for full-time law enforcement officers,
EMS personnel and firefighters.
“This historic pay raise serves as a
great investment for the future, as re
search indicates that police officers
with college degrees are less likely to
use lethal force and are subjects of fewer
citizen complaints,” said Sandy Springs
Mayor Rusty Paul in an emailed state
ment. “From a retention standpoint,
the current salaries offered by the San
dy Springs Police Department can now
directly compete with those salaries of
fered by the private sector.”
Paul said the city expects the Sandy
Springs Police Department to be fully
staffed by Jan. 1, 2021.
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DECEMBER 2021| 17
