InTucker Magazine

On The Beat With Lt. Schoeppner

Just over a week ago, DeKalb County’s Tucker Precinct changed its boundaries to include the entire City of Tucker, as well as some unincorporated areas. This was one of the conditions set forth by the intergovernmental agreement (IGA) that Tucker and DeKalb County signed back in May. While it is an exciting development, I want to help you understand why this matters.

Before I get into the details about the new boundaries, it would probably be good to give you a brief history lesson. When I started working at DeKalb Police back in 2001, the boundary between Tucker and Center Precincts was I-285. It stayed that way until 2007 when police headquarters, and by extension Center Precinct, moved from Memorial Drive to West Exchange Place in Tucker. Department leaders decided that it didn’t make much sense for Center Precinct to not actually be located inside its precinct. This led them to change the boundary line to Henderson Road/Brockett Road. This is where it stayed until last month. Like when headquarters moved, we find ourselves in a situation where it doesn’t make a lot of sense for the City to straddle two precincts.

So here we are. You won’t see any dramatic differences in your day-to-day police service. You’re still calling the same 911 call center. The same operators are dispatching officers. The officers responding to your call will be wearing the same uniforms. The biggest difference will be what happens behind the scenes.

Proponents of Tucker’s cityhood argued that it made sense for Tucker to become a city because a smaller and leaner government was able to respond to citizen’s needs in a way the county just could not. The same theory applies here.

With Tucker being served by one precinct instead of two, there is less bureaucracy in the way of solving problems and addressing crime. Increased efficiency is the biggest gain from this move and it should benefit the citizens of Tucker for years to come.

Police Blotter

Case Closed
During the spring of this year, the Smoke Rise area of Tucker had been the scene of multiple burglaries. Detectives were able to collect video evidence from some of the victims and eventually received a tip after airing the video on “Crime Stoppers”. This tip led to the arrest of one of the suspects, Avery Jones. However, following Jones’ arrest, there were still burglaries occurring in the area.

On August 28, Brookhaven Police got into a car chase which ended in the capture of Shamonta Swift. An investigation involving Brookhaven and DeKalb County Police led detectives to believe that Swift was one of our burglars. Upon being interviewed, Swift confessed to several burglaries in the Smoke Rise area and also identified two accomplices. This led to the subsequent arrests of Jonathan Grier and Daunte Jones.

Since the arrests of all these subjects, there have been no further burglary incidents in Smoke Rise. Tucker Precinct detectives are also working to confirm that these subjects are responsible for multiple burglaries in the neighborhoods around Henderson Road. We will keep you posted as we learn more.