Brookhaven Police Chief Gary Yandura has created a map for future police coverage when officers hit the streets this summer.
At the City Council’s June 11 meeting, Yandura showed the council a map dividing the city into six police beats. Yandura said he used natural boundaries like roads and creeks as well as crime statistics to create the coverage map.
“What we ended up with is six zones,” Yandura said.
Yandura said the goal is to have a three-minute emergency response time per beat.
“It’ll be pretty good coverage, and a lot more than people are used to seeing,” Yandura said.
Mayor J. Max Davis was pleased with Yandura’s map.
“The way you set up these beats makes a lot of sense and I’m very impressed. This is exactly what I would do,” Davis said.
The officers within each beat will be flexible to respond to emergency calls throughout the city or may be reassigned for special events, such as the Brookhaven Bolt 5K race, Yandura said.
“There will be one officer in each of these areas that will be permanently assigned, the rest will be kind of floating,” Yandura said.
The Brookhaven Police Department is still looking at an official startup date in late July or early August, Yandura said.
When fully staffed, there will be nine officers and two sergeants assigned to each shift. There will be four, 12-hour shifts, Yandura said.
All of the supervisors for the department have been hired, Yandura said, and 18 officers have been identified. He said police officials are conducting about 40 interviews a week with potential officers to finish staffing the department.
“Out of every 10 interviews we handle, two to three make it through the cycle to give you an idea about the level of scrutiny,” Yandura told the council.
“It’s what we have to do to find the best officers. We’re being very selective in the process,” said Deputy Police Chief Ron Freeman.
Officials plan to hire more than 50 officers for Brookhaven’s police department.