TUCKER
ROUGHDRAFT.NEWS
OCTOBER 2025 |23
Tucker police department
feasibility study attracts crowd
Tucker-Northlake Community Improvement District
Public Safety Assessment & Feasibility Study
Study Presentation
Tuesday, September 9, 2025
Northlake Church of Christ
7:00 - 8:30 p.m.
9
Tucker Police Forum (Photo by Cathy Cobbs)
ANNE
LERNER
AMAYOR
By Cathy Cobbs
The authors of a study about forming
a dedicated Tucker police department held
a public forum about the study on Sept. 9,
attended by a crowd that seemed receptive
to the concept.
The forum, sponsored by the Tucker
Civic Association, featured presentations by
Northlake-Tucker CID Executive
Director Matthew Tee, and Georgia
Association of Chiefs of Police executives
Dwayne Orrick and Ed Densmore.
The $45,000 study, commissioned
by the Tucker-Northlake CID in January
with funding from groups that included
the Tucker Summit CID, Tucker Civic
Association, Tucker Business Association,
and Tucker Main Street Alliance, “analyzed
two years of 911 dispatch data, interviewed
business and civic leaders and compared
Tucker’s current policing structure with
those of neighboring cities,” according to a
release from the Tucker-Northlake CID.
At the Sept. 9 meeting, Tee said that
of the 67 cities in an 11-county region,
79 percent of them have local police
departments, and that the study looked at
recently established departments, especially
Dunwoody and Brookhaven, when
comparing response times to 911 calls.
According to Eee, the time to dispatch
after a 911 call in Brookhaven was a little
more than a minute. In Dunwoody, it was
about one minute and 30 seconds, and for
DeKalb, seven minutes and 37 seconds.
Densmore, a former police chief in
Alpharetta and Johns Creek, said he felt that
the 12-hour shift model would work best
for Tucker, as opposed to DeKalb’s 10-hour
overlapping shift “to maximize man power
and zone integrity.”
The study estimates that a city-run
department could be launched for about
$10.7 million, which includes salaries,
vehicles, technology, and equipment. That
number did not include several common
elements of other city-run departments like
K-9 units, drone equipment, or a real-time
crime center.
Tucker property owners in 2024 paid
DeKalb County $15.9 million in taxes for
police services, compared to Brookhaven’s
$15 million and Dunwoody’s $14.3
million. Both cities have larger populations
than Tucker.
The study recommends hiring 53 sworn
officers and 10 civilian staff in the first year.
Another problem that would be
addressed by a dedicated department
would be coverage area, the study said. The
DeKalb’s Police Tucker Precinct currently
serves 40 square miles, which includes areas
outside city limits. A Tucker force would
exclusively cover the city’s 20 square miles.
Eee said although he believed that
DeKalb County Police is doing its best
with its available resources, the understaffed
department makes it difficult to service
many areas of the city in a timely fashion.
“And remember, no man can serve two
masters,” Eee said. “Officers are indebted to
DeKalb County, not Tucker.”
Most of the questions asked after the
presentation were mostly of a procedural
nature, including ones about how training,
courts, traffic enforcement, and partnership
agreements with other jurisdictions would
work.
In order for the plan to move forward,
the Tucker City Council would have to
authorize a referendum for voters to decide
whether or not they want a dedicated police
department. Then the city would enter
into various Intergovernmental Agreements
(IGA) with DeKalb County and other
jurisdictions. The study estimated that
establishing the force would take 12 to 18
months.
(a
People focused. Commune Brier.
Ready to Serve
Tucker, Day One
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