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Fairburns cops putting a halt to Meadow Glen crime

By BEN NELMS
bnelms@TheCitizenNews.com

Elected officials, police and a growing number of Fairburn residents are joining together to draw a line in the sand. Crossing that line will spell trouble for law breakers.

Referencing recent incident of property destruction and disorderly conduct in Meadow Glen subdivision off Ga, Highway 74, Chief Charles Long told Mayor Betty Hannah and city council members May 9 that two of the ringleaders are in jail and since they’ve been in jail the activity out there has dropped significantly.

“So the activity has dropped we’re not letting up on the pressure out there but we’re also exploring other options such as state charges and maybe federal charges on the individuals that are causing all the problems out there,” he said.

Long added that he would continue to update the council on circumstances in the area.

Following Long’s remarks, city administrator Jim Williams told council members that the chief had met recently with residents of the Meadow Glen Homeowners Association.

“The residents appear to be commited to forming a Neighborhood Watch and it looks like they are going to get active in helping the police to identify the source of the violence and get some of the problems solved before their property value starts to suffer,” said Williams.

Speaking after the meeting, Long addressed the police department’s upcoming implementation of the final phase of a completely new system of policing.

“What we’re attempting to do here is address crime, and I mean all crime. No crime is insignificant,” said Long. “And the way to do that is through accountability policing, in other words, making your people accountable for the crime that happens in their area. Our recent promotions was the next step in our attempt to reorganize the police department to support this accountability. This was phase 2 of that plan. Phase 3 is the actual implementation of the plan, which we hope to have ready to present to the public in the next six to eight weeks. We are continuing our recruiting and training efforts to do policing in another way, a way that promotes accountability.

Long said the department’s new image is being accompanied by newly redesigned police cars and new badges that will contain a representation of city history on them.

“We look forward to introducing our new style of policing this summer because I think it’s going to bring a higher level of customer services to the citizens we serve,” he said. “We look forward to phase 3 because that’s where we’re going to demonstrate that things will be done differently than they have in the past.”

Long also had further thoughts on the Meadow Glen issue. Recent crime in the neighborhood is being addressed by both citizens and police. Unwilling to see only one neighborhood positively affected, Long said the goal is to make Fairburn a very uncomfortable place for anyone considering criminal activity.

“We are continuing to work on the issues in Meadow Glen. A lot of the members of the community are now actively interested in helping police, partnering with us to end the problems over there. And I believe we’re on the brink of having a community Neighborhood Watch established there,” Long said. “So I look forward to seeing progress there and throughout the rest of the city and sending crime somewhere else because we don’t want it here anymore.”