InTucker Magazine
January 2017
On the Beat with Lt. Smith – January 2017
With the recent formation of the city of Tucker, the DeKalb County Police Department wanted to demonstrate their eagerness to work with the city by creating a specialized position that would allow us to continue the exchange of information between the two entities with ease. I was chosen to fill that position.
My official title is city of Tucker Liaison Officer and I bring to the job 18 years with the DeKalb Police Department. I’ve spent the last five years assigned to the Tucker Precinct. As part of my new assignment, I am working closely with the elected officials of Tucker as well as the city staff members. You’ll see me at city and community meetings, and I’m available on social media; all in an effort to build a stronger bond between DeKalb Police and the community.
One of my responsibilities is to closely monitor crime in the city of Tucker. I do this on a daily basis and follow up with a weekly crime briefing for the elected officials and staff members. Over the last year, I’ve been tracking crime trends within our boundaries, both good and bad.
During 2016, we saw a decrease in robberies and residential burglaries. This can be attributed to an increased officer presence within our shopping plazas and residential subdivisions. Unfortunately, we also witnessed an increase in business burglaries and automobile break-ins (“entering autos”). Although we have been able to reduce some of the business burglaries with proactive enforcement, we could still use the help of the public in reducing our entering autos. Ninety percent of all entering autos involve either someone leaving their vehicle unlocked or leaving valuables (purse, bag, GPS, etc.) in plain view of anyone walking by. To that end, we would like to encourage everyone to always lock your vehicle and remove any valuables from the vehicle, if possible. At the very least, hide your valuables from public view.
As we ring in a new year, we look forward to continuing our relationship with the residents of the city of Tucker.