It’s not always easy sitting on the accountability hot seat. That is especially true when it comes to Fairburn’s accountability policing model. It is one that puts the concept of being accountable for the job as an up front requirement rather than an afterthought that exists in so many lines of work today in the American workplace.

A part of Fairburn’s evolving accountability model is the face to face sessions between supervisors and the department’s administrative panel, composed of Chief Charles Long, Deputy Chief Jay Midkiff and Capt. J.T. Rogers. And when they come before the panel, it is best to have the answers already in hand. It is during those sessions where supervisors provide an overview of their team’s recent efforts, including the rationale for decisions they have made, the nature and extent of problem solving that went into their decisions and the assessments of their actions. Making presentations before the panel July 13 were Adam Team Acting Lt. Chris Clark and Baker Team Acting Lt. Quinton Garrett.

Part of the accountability model includes dividing the city into teams and zones so that law enforcement activities can be tracked more accurately and effectively. Clark and Garrett provided a synopsis of the the problems that occurred in their areas. They identified their problem solving efforts and answered questions relating to the methods they used to devise, implement and effectively assess the performance and participation of their teams. Once Clark and Garrett gave their report, the panel provided its assessment of the presentations, including acknowledgment of positive performance and guidance on ways to improve their accountability and that of their team. In this area, the panel pulled no punches.

Aside from the natural job functions such as responding to crime, a major component of accountability policing deals with public contact and partnering with the community. Established earlier this year was a new, multifaceted, zone-by-zone weekly report that tracks part one crimes, quality of life calls by officers, traffic accidents and other information. Tabulated by the week, 28-day period and year-to-date, the report is available to any citizen at city hall or the police department.

Commenting on the rationale of having supervisors provide in-depth, in-person reports before a panel bent on scrutinizing their efforts, Long quickly referenced the ongoing perspective and scope of commitment needed to ratchet up the accountability model to a high level of partnership with the community, a commitment designed to make Fairburn an undesirable place for criminal activity. At its core, accountability policing is based on individual, professional responsibility. Those efforts are designed to become unified throughout the department and to reverberate through the community. Though obviously no small task for any law enforcement agency, the result is one in which the community wins. Hot seat or not, everybody wins in the long run.

“If everybody is not on the same sheet of music with the same objective, you can’t win,” Long told supervisors. “And if you don’t win, the community loses.”

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