Atlanta Police make changes to zoning

ATLANTA (FOX 5 Atlanta) - The Atlanta Police Department is making changes to one of its zones that receives an excessive amount of calls. The efforts are focused on Zone 3.

"One of the key ideas is to make sure our response times are where they need to be," says Carlos Campos, director of APD’s Public Affairs Unit. "Zone Two has the highest response time, right now, at about 13 minutes."

The department looked at traffic patterns, economic growth, and calls for service. It decided services could be reallocated to different zones.

The following changes take effect on Sunday, March 17:

• On the southwest border of Zone 2 which includes the neighborhoods of Riverside, Whittier Mill Village, Hills Park, Bolton, and Blandtown, will become part of Zone 1.
• The area west of Downtown east of Joseph E. Lowery Boulevard and north of Joseph E. Boone Boulevard that encompasses the English Avenue neighborhood and portions of west Midtown will become the westernmost portion of Zone 5.
• The eastern portions of Midtown known as the “Garden District,” will become part of Zone 6.
• The area of northeast Atlanta that includes Cheshire Bridge Road on the northern border and the Morningside and Piedmont Heights neighborhoods, will become Beat of Zone 6.

“It’s important that we examine our officer workload periodically and with the help of Georgia Tech we were able to do so in a data-driven manner,” said Deputy Chief Jeff Glazier, commander of APD’s Field Operations Division.  “We are confident these changes will balance the workload in all Zones.”

The last time the department realigned its zones was in 2011.

Find out which zone protects your area by clicking here.