21st Century Community Policing

THE ATLANTA POLICE FOUNDATION

APF’s mission is to make Atlanta the safest large city in the country.

The Atlanta Police Foundation employs a broad array of 21st century public safety initiatives to accomplish its mission. These initiatives include community programs designed to provide resources to underserved neighborhoods, as well as training to cultivate a mindset of true servanthood among the Atlanta Police Department sworn personnel.

Since 2003, APF has been providing vital strategic support to the Mayor, the Chief of Police and the Atlanta Police Department on the forefront of public safety’s future direction. In 2015, Atlanta was named a model city by President Obama’s task force for 21st Century Policing – one of only 15 jurisdictions to be given that status out of 18,000 reviewed.

Our work is far from over. Through our public-private partnership model, we will continue to pursue, privately fund and implement programming that creates a safe and just city for every citizen of Atlanta, driving out crime and enhancing the safety of our neighborhoods.

Programs

At-Promise

At-Promise is a youth crime diversion program serving youth across the city of Atlanta. Each youth receives a therapeutic assessment to determine their individualized plan of services to include GED/education assistance, workforce prep and/or recreation activities. APF works with more than 30 social service agencies who apply the appropriate professional expertise to each individual case, ensuring relevance and a personalized approach.

Atlanta Police Leadership Institute

Regarded among the most robust law enforcement leadership programs in the country, the Atlanta Police Leadership Institute (APLI) is building the leadership capacity of the APD. APLI is a groundbreaking program established by the Atlanta Police Foundation in partnership with leading law enforcements specialists. 

Atlanta Public Safety Training Center

The new Atlanta Public Safety Training Center will reimagine law enforcement training, catapulting APD and Atlanta Fire Rescue to the vanguard of major urban law enforcement agencies.

The center will improve morale, retention, recruitment and training for APD and AFR professionals, set a national standard for community engagement, neighborhood sensitivity and devotion to civil rights, and embrace police reform and cultural sensitivity through extensive training.

BUILD THE FORCE

The Build the Force Campaign helps the Atlanta Police Department to achieve its goal of 2,000 sworn officers on staff within the next three years. Police departments across the nation have greatly suffered from a staffing crisis in recent years, resulting in slower response times, less protective coverage citywide, and low officer morale.

Through this initiative, APF is partnering with private sector companies to sponsor the $4,000 hiring incentive for new officer hires. Over the next three years, our mission to hire 750 new police officers to fill the ranks of vacant positions and those that may become vacant due to retirement.

CONNECT ATLANTA / Operation Shield

Connect Atlanta, the core of the Atlanta Police Foundation’s smart policing initiative, is an integrated system that uses state-of-the-art technology to connect APD, local businesses, and citizens with real-time surveillance and police response.

Operation Shield, our network of more than 16,000 public and private sector cameras, monitors Atlanta’s neighborhoods, business centers, major public spaces, and thoroughfares. The cameras are integrated into APD’s Video Surveillance Center which provides real-time monitoring and dispatching of police to trouble spots.

Crime Stoppers

Crime Stoppers of Greater Atlanta (CSGA) is in its 16th year of operation. It has grown from its original footprint in the City of Atlanta to more than 100 jurisdictions throughout the metro Atlanta area, underscoring the consistent and essential level of cooperation among our region’s law enforcement agencies.

The Atlanta Police Foundation manages the metrowide program under the supervision of our designated APD Sergeant. The CSGA Tipline allows citizens to play a direct role in reducing crime by submitting anonymous tips to police authorities.

MOUNTED PATROL

The Atlanta Police Department Mounted Patrol Unit serves the citizens of Atlanta, providing essential crowd control and police visibility at major events, celebrations and festivals, including concerts, conventions and Atlanta’s marquis sporting events featuring the Falcons, Hawks, Atlanta United, and college football bowl games.

The Mounted Patrol works more than 100 events each year. APD’s equine officers and their human partners will move to a new stable and pastureland when the Public Safety Training Center opens in late 2024.

REPEAT OFFENDER Initiative

The Repeat Offender Initiative is a multi-faceted effort to reduce the crime rate of Repeat Offenders (ROs), who are estimated to be responsible for more than 30 percent of the crime in Atlanta. The Repeat Offender Commission is comprised of the senior leadership of APD, Fulton County District Attorney’s Office, the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, the Department of Community Supervision (Corrections), Fulton County Superior Court judges, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the Atlanta Police Foundation, and several associations that represent the private sector and which provide technological, operational, staffing, and financial support.

Secure Neighborhoods

Community policing is a core principle of the Atlanta Police Department. APD has long recognized that its officers must have a first-hand knowledge of the people and neighbor­hoods that they protect and serve. APF’s Secure Neighborhoods initiative addresses this fundamental mission by enabling officers to live and work in the city which they serve.

The program has four components: the Secure Neighborhoods Home Officers Program, the Community Courtesy Officer Program, the Community Safety Housing Program, and Unity Place Recruit Housing.

Events