EAST ATLANTA — The East Atlanta Security Patrol, the off-duty, neighborhood-police initiative that provides additional law enforcement to the community, will announce today its preliminary plans to expand its core coverage area.



As proposed, the new patrol boundaries would include:

The portion of unincorporated DeKalb County bounded by Glenwood Avenue, I-20, Clifton and Flat Shoals roads;

The portion of the Eastland Heights community bounded by Moreland Avenue, Eastland Road and Bouldercrest Drive,

And the portion of the Gresham Park neighborhood bounded by I-20, Brannen and Fayetteville roads and Bouldercrest Drive where it becomes Bouldercrest Road.

The new coverage zones, which could still change depending upon interest, would be patrolled by off-duty DeKalb County police.As planned, it would become effective on Jan. 1, 2014, at a cost of $200 a year per household, with that fee reduced to $50 for seniors.The plan follows an increase in crimes in East Atlanta, including six murders year-to-date. East Atlanta is patrolled the Atlanta Police Department, while unincorporated DeKalb is covered by the DeKalb County Police Department.It also follows a number of complaints East Atlanta Patch has received from residents in unincorporated DeKalb about poor police response from DeKalb County police. Some residents have said the DeKalb police have been slow to respond, others reported officers arguing with them that they lived within the city limits of Atlanta and still others said they were told crime scene investigators wouldn't dust for fingerprints unless they could see them visibly.DeKalb County police officials, who have been working more with their Atlanta, Decatur and MARTA police counterparts with respect to anti-crime efforts, have said they want to hear complaints so they can address those issues.Myron Polster, who runs the security patrol, explained the reasons behind the patrol expansion in this&A with East Atlanta Patch:It's painfully apparent that the DeKalb police are outmanned. In addition to slow response times of as much as two hours for property crimes, there is a complete lack of patrol presence in the areas that we're proposing to cover. DeKalb is on a path to employing more officers, but that takes a lot of time and a long term commitment. There seems to be no vision of how many officers it takes to do the job or a plan to divert resources or increase taxes to meet the public safety needs of the citizens.Parkview was approached a couple months ago knowing that they had crime problems and due to the fact that they share Dekalb Beat 320 with the Braeburn Circle area and are so close by. They preferred to start their own patrol. If their residents change their minds, they could certainly be considered for inclusion in this patrol.In theory, it's more efficient to pay more taxes and have more police. It's up to the public to demand that. It's also up to the public to demand better schools. DeKalb County has failed terribly in both areas, and the poor performing schools in this part of DeKalb County are helping to drive the crime problems. Without an education, it's hard to find a decent paying job, and that makes crime a good alternative for many young men. That problem is only growing in scope as good paying jobs in our economy require more education and training.You can't look at any one neighborhood and say what will work, even if it worked elsewhere. Our best comparison is the East Atlanta Security Patrol, where there over 200 burglaries in both 2007 and 2008 even before the recession hit. That was reduced to 50 burglaries in 2012. While the numbers are up this year, the totals are still way below where they were a few years ago, and most of the serious crimes are committed by people who live outside the community. DeKalb should see an even bigger benefit, as police presence is non-existent for most of the proposed map during parts of the day that have high 911 call volumes. The DeKalb Patrol, like the East Atlanta Security Patrol, is not just about extra patrols, but about having the police and the community work together. That's being extended further as East Atlanta just started sharing information in a single group that includes DKPD and APD, and all patrols in Zone 6. Before the sharing was one way, with the police providing month old crime reports at community meetings to a handful of residents. We've barely scratched the surface on citizen, security patrol and police collaboration. Now we can share information about crimes that happened minutes ago all over Zone 6 and unincorporated DeKalb County. That's being extended to the community at large, as patrols embrace technology and citizen empowerment, with two-way communication between the police and the community that helps facilitate reductions in crime.Security Patrols are about providing value to their community. No one expects them to prevent domestic disputes or bad drug deals that lead to homicides. They're mostly about providing a police presence that deters everyday crime. They're also about educating our citizens, providing citizens with ongoing access to the police, organizing Courtwatch, informing people of threats in their community, and working with citizens and the police to adjust to evolving threats. A good patrol can increase membership during a crisis, and at least maintain membership during times when people don't feel so threatened. If all a patrol does is employ off duty officers, it is tough to maintain membership.A. The map we've provided is an initial proposal, based on a combination of geography and our desire to serve the rest of the boundaries of the East Atlanta Community Association that aren't covered by the EASP. We are open to some expansion of the map prior to when the patrol starts, but not a lot. The larger the patrol, the slower the response times and the less police presence we can provide. A patrol that requires more than 5-7 minutes driving time from one place to the other feels too large. We'll see what kind of interest we get from different parts of the community, and adjust the map accordingly.