PUBLIC SAFETY
Every citizen deserves to feel safe in their homes and neighborhoods: Andre Dickens’ work on the Atlanta City Council is reflective of this point. By collaborating with the community and the police, Dickens is working every day for a safer Atlanta.
Here are just some of Dickens’ public safety achievements while serving on the Atlanta City Council:
- Championed and passed pay increases for Investigators and Senior Patrol Officers effective retroactively to August, 2015.
- Chaired the Public Safety and Legal Administration Committee in 2017, during which time homicides went down 33%, and all violent crimes decreased 12%.
- Led the Public Safety Committee efforts to develop policy and improvements to Stray Dogs Enforcement.
- Co-sponsored “ban the box” legislation, which no longer requires applicants to reveal prior convictions on employment applications.
- Conducted monthly “Walk-n-Talks” with APD and community members to walk the streets preventing crime.
- Hosted NPU Public Safety leaders to the Video Integration Center to see how APD uses cameras.
- Introduced and passed “8 Can’t Wait” legislation to ban dangerous police tactics and create clearer escalation of force procedures
- Sponsored legislation to close the Atlanta City Detention Center and repurpose it into a community focused center to benefit those in need