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.