2022 was a hard year for Dekalb County Police, they lost over 160 good officers. Most of those with 3-to-10-year experience, going to other agencies for better pay and better benefits. The police department also lost a lot of good veteran experience to retirement. This experience is hard to replace from the command staff all through the ranks and different areas of the department.  

The most disturbing part is a lot of those retirements and officers leaving still have a lot of good years left in them. They are going to other agencies and companies where they will be paid better and appreciated for the work that they do. This should be a huge concern for the Police Department and the CEO.

No one will tell the real number of post-certified sworn officers in the department. But a good estimate is below 600 maybe worse than that.

In 2023 someone needs to ask the hard questions and ask how the county plans on keeping the Police department staffed with so many people leaving.

Dekalb loses another veteran officer to a local agency. What will it take to keep our good officers here at Dakalb? 

 So, the Blu Flu was a failure in every aspect, the CEO and Command staff were successful with the threats of write-ups. They dangled the triple overtime carrot in front of you and you took the bait. Now everyone is mad because those who came in and worked overtime to get triple pay will not receive the triple pay at all. Everyone was paid the regular time and a half for the last pay period.

This County has fooled you and lied to you once again. 

 Dekalb Police is in such a critical need for officers to work and help with answering calls, reducing crime, and working on investigation cases. The CEO and the BOC have approved any officer that will work overtime will be paid at a triple-overtime rate.  

The county is willing to pay this astronomical amount of money in overtime but will not fix the real problem which is better pay and better benefits for its officers.

 Chief Ramos meant to send Major Williams an email but instead, it went to Det Williams, and when she realized her mistake, she had Major Williams run to the Detective's work station. Major Williams then had the detective sign onto his computer and step away from his computer. Major Williams then opened the email and deleted it.

The email was asking Major Williams to send out Chief Ramos's resume to some job openings that she wants to apply for. Chief Ramos wants out of Dekalb by October. Chief Ramos hates being here because she has no control over her Department without the BOC interfering with her decisions.

 It seems the Dekalb County Police officers are ready to take action, they are attempting to organize what they are calling a Blue Flu on July 1^st, 2022. They are asking all officers that are scheduled to work that day to call in sick or not show up for work on their assigned shifts.

 Atlanta mayor looking to sweeten package to promote retention within the police department

 

Atlanta city councilman and Public Safety Chairman Dustin Hillis says the city needs to give police officers a 12 percent raise or risk losing some of the officers already on the force to higher-paying jobs.

 

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 Chief Ramos was told she can not go to 12 hours shifts from the CEO, once again she tried to implement something without letting Decatur know what she was doing. so she got angry and is taking more time off and going out of town. 

Dekalb will struggle to have an adequate amount of officers on the road to respond to all the calls and provide adequate coverage for the citizens of Dekalb. 

this is dangerous for the public and the officers and this is why the crime rate is so high and the lack of traffic enforcement is nonexistent in Dekalb.

 Dekalb Police is in CRISIS, due to the shortage of certified officers and the inability to keep good officers Chief Ramos is being forced to make drastic changes in the department.

An email was sent out on 05-09-2022 to all the uniform division shifts asking them to vote on changing to a 5/2 work schedule or a 12-hour work schedule. The Chief wants answers by 1:00 pm on 05-10-2022.

This was prompted by the lack of response to a shooting where multiple people were injured and shot, Dekalb did not have enough officers working to handle the situation properly. This will cause more officers to leave because none of them want to change from what they currently work.

Instead of fixing the real problem with the department, which is bad pay and bad benefits, they choose to punish the officers they still have working for them. 

 Dekalb needs to look at this, the pay and the benefits are better than what Dekalb offers. the other small city and large county departments have similar or even better benefits than this as well. 

You do not need a marketing firm to get good people just pay them better and offer them better benefits. 

 So Chief Ramos is meeting with precincts and the different divisions, she is asking what the concerns are and how can she help.  It sounds great at first, but It’s basically a waste of time because every question or issue that is brought up she points the finger and blames the CEO, commissioners, and the Director of public safety. Even though she is the police chief she tells you everything is out of her control. So, after 2.5 years of being on the job, she can’t tell the citizens or the officers how she will fix the problems within the department or stop the crime rates from going higher.

So, the question must be asked, what exactly is she being paid to do. She has applied at 3 different agencies since she has been here and made public statements that she has done all she can do for Dekalb county. 

Why is Michael Thurmond keeping her around if she does not want to be here she has told the citizens and the officers she can't do anything else for the department. 

 Dekalb County Police have 410 sworn post-certified officers in the department +/- 10.  This is a scary fact and a dangerous fact. It is dangerous for the citizens of Dekalb County and the officers of Dekalb Police. Just three years ago Dekalb Police had over 650 sworn officers in the department, so what has changed and what has happened to create this sudden loss of manpower, and how can this problem be solved.

As a citizen of Dekalb county I would be asking the CEO and Commissioners what is going on and why do we not have adequate officers to help with the rising crime in the county.  

 The Dekalb CEO and the commissioners passed what they are calling a 6% pay raise for first responders and a $3,000.00 retention bonus. They also are telling the public they want to offer a better retirement.

Here is the truth as to what they are doing, the 6% is not an actual raise or pay increase it is the covid incentive pay they have been receiving for the past two years that was given by the Federal Government, not Dekalb county.

They have done nothing as for better retirements or better benefits packages, Dekalb still pays more for its insurance than any other agency in the state, and Dekalb county contributes less than any other County or City in the State.

The $1,000.00 dollar bonus that Governor Kemp gave to all first responders in the state of Georgia, still has not been given to the Dekalb County first responders even though Dekalb received the funds months ago. Dekalb is letting the money gain interest in an account for the benefits of the commissioners and CEO.

 With the county election just around the corner, what is the future of Dekalb County?

This is the opportunity to make your voices and votes count. Dekalb county CEO and the commissioners have ruined this county in almost every aspect.

Dekalb County has the highest crime rate and the highest attrition rate for all employees but especially public safety employees. Our public Safety Director has a job because he is the CEO college fraternity brother, and no one knows why Chief Ramos is here. She has been trying to leave since the day she was sworn in, yet we keep her here letting her kill morale and make the bad decisions that she does on a daily basis.

 It is time for a change in Dekalb County lets start with all new people, everyone must go from the CEO and his incompetent commissioners to the leaders of each department in the county.  Let's make this election count for the citizens and the employees of Dekalb. 

Dekalb County is one of the lowest-paying Departments in the Metro area. Dekalb has the worst benefits and retirement package in the state.