ATLANTA - The Atlanta Police Department posted a rebuttal to recent statements made by the Buckhead City Committee this week.
In a Facebook post by the group on Wednesday aimed at newly sworn-in Mayor Andre Dickens, the group claimed the new mayor ordered the department to lower standards in a rush to hire more officers.
"A high-ranking department leader called me this week to inform us that he has been instructed by the mayor’s team to lower recruitment and hiring standards, so Mayor Dickens can hire 250 new officers in his first year," Buckhead City CEO Bill White was quoted as saying. "This is a total disaster and could lead to unqualified officers on our streets and put good officers’ lives and the public’s lives at risk. Lowering hiring standards just to make headlines is disgraceful and not what Buckhead or the city of Atlanta needs right now to fight crime."
"We at the Atlanta Police Department (APD) love the entire City of Atlanta; however, we must stand up for our department and our troops and we must refute false claims and misinformation recently made.
"We don’t want to be dragged into the middle of a misinformation campaign.
"Here are the facts:
"1. The APD is NOT lowering hiring standards for our police officers.
"a. There is no need to lower our standards.
"b. In 2021, we hired 122 recruits -- this during a time we were seeing a nationwide decrease in police applications.
"c. We fully anticipate surpassing our 2021 numbers and meeting the mayor’s hiring goal...
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