PEACHTREE CORNERS, Ga. — Peachtree Corners residents packed City Hall for three hours Thursday night to debate whether the city should create its own police department, with passionate arguments on both sides of the issue.
The proposal would establish a 52-officer department to replace the current arrangement with Gwinnett County Police, which city leaders say assigns only three to four officers to patrol Peachtree Corners at any given time.
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“I haven’t been unhappy with the service,” said resident Jack Arnold.
Others described concerning experiences with response times. One woman recounted repeated incidents of gunshots near her home.
“More gunshots, more calls to 911, still no one arrived,” she said.
City officials argue Gwinnett County’s staffing challenges leave Peachtree Corners underserved.
“In an agency that’s supposed to be 900 [officers] and they’re down to 650, 700, that’s very large numbers,” said Chief City Marshal Edward Restrepo.
Gwinnett County Deputy Chief Steve Shaw defended his department’s capabilities at the meeting.
“We had an active shooter call on Technology Parkway. We had 70 officers on scene within about seven or eight minutes,” Shaw said.
The proposed police department would cost approximately 12 million dollars annually, compared to the 11 million the city currently pays Gwinnett through property taxes and court revenue, according to the city. In a worst-case scenario, the plan would increase the city’s police millage rate from the current 2.9 mills to 3.5 mills, per figures presented at the meeting. That 0.6 mill increase would cost homeowners between an estimated 12 and 120 dollars more annually depending on their home’s assessed value after exemptions.
A homeowner with a $200,000 house would pay an additional $12 per year, while someone with a $1 million home would see a $120 annual increase, per city estimates. Residents currently pay between $58 and $582 annually for police services through their existing property taxes.
“My goal is to bring some other revenue streams to bear and decrease the amount of underlap between the property tax of 2.9 mils and what we need to pay for it,” said City Manager Brian Johnson. “That is my goal.”
Johnson mentioned using Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax funds for vehicle purchases and other city revenue streams to close the funding gap.
Some residents support the change for increased local presence.
“I want the police presence here ahead of the crime so that the crime does not come here,” said resident Richard Chambers.
Others question the value proposition.
“I like Gwinnett County PD. I think they do a great job and I really don’t think we need a Peachtree Corners police force,” said one woman.
The city council has not scheduled a vote on the proposal. If approved, the transition would take four years before the department would be up and running.
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