InTucker Magazine

On the Beat with Lt. Obester

On the Beat is written monthly by DeKalb Police Lt. J. Obester. Lt. J.A. Ridlin is Tucker’s liaison to the DeKalb County Police Department and can be contacted by email at jaridlin@dekalbcountyga.gov or by phone at (678) 597-9040.

Things have been very busy around Tucker Precinct! New staff, a new building (sort of), new initiatives like the FUSUS system, and our always present mission – to help make Dekalb County and the City of Tucker a safer place to live, work and play. It’s no exaggeration to say we are running full steam ahead into the approaching holiday season.

The Tucker Precinct lobby is open for business after being closed for several years due to Covid-19 restrictions. We are eager to see people face-to face again during our normal business hours of 9 am to 5 pm. Tucker Precinct is located at 4451 Lawrenceville Highway, next to the Cofer Crossing Shopping Center. We would like to express our appreciation to Pastor Huggins and his congregation at Mountain West Church (mwchurch.com). After a good amount of elbow grease by the pastor and many volunteers, the precinct building, and its surrounding landscaping are looking much better. The lobby was cleaned and painted, landscaping trimmed back, and the shed finally cleaned out (yes, we have one!). We are proud to be good stewards of a building obtained many years ago through the generosity of the Cofer Brothers Company and its employees.

DKPD TKR officers continue to respond to hundreds of calls for service around the city each week. Please call 911 for emergencies or us directly for non-emergencies (678) 937-5301. If you need to come in and speak with an officer, you will meet one of our newest civilian staff members, Mrs. Shiferaw. In addition to answering our telephones and greeting our visitors, Mrs. Shiferaw handles our screening desk. Our screening personnel take police reports in person and over the telephone. This is beneficial because the hard work they perform allows our officers to stay on their beats, patrolling and handling higher priority issues such as crimes in progress.

The new Assistant Precinct Commander at Tucker Precinct is Captain Louis Pierre. He joins us after a long career with the DKPD, including his last assignment as the commander of the busy South Precinct Criminal Investigations (CID) Unit.  Captain Pierre brings with him a great amount of enthusiasm and will be assisting Precinct Commander, Major Harden, by helping to ensure that officers, detectives, and the first-line supervisors are providing the most professional and caring service to citizens. Tucker Precinct is also fortunate to have several new officers and sergeants that have been assigned to each of the three teams (Day Watch, Evening Watch, and Morning Watch).

Several of the outstanding Tucker officers have transitioned to new opportunities. Officer CJ Lee, a Tucker local, was promoted to first line of supervision, Police Sergeant. He transferred to the North Central Precinct, located off West Exchange Place. Also promoted to sergeant were Officer Menefee and Officer Sargent, who will now be called Sergeant Sargent! Officer Mealor, another officer who grew up in the Tucker area, was recently chosen to work with the Advanced Technology Unit. Among other things, Ofc. Mealor will be working to promote the new FUSUS camera integration system (see September’s On the Beat).  Rest assured, while you may not see these officers around the Tucker area as frequently as before, they will still be assisting Tucker Precinct with various initiatives and programs.  I also know that we will continue to find Sergeant Lee eating at Matthews!

As you can see, we are working hard to upgrade both our human and physical resources to meet the needs of Tucker. If you are a local resident and want to stay engaged with us, I recommend you download the Nextdoor app on your phone and take the steps to join our online community. We frequently post about the daily and weekly happenings at our Precinct, including our monthly “Coffee with a Cop” community meetings.

On behalf of Major Harden, Captain Pierre, and all the staff and officers of Tucker Precinct, we wish everyone a safe and crime-free holiday season.