Chattanooga police have nearly tripled the number of officers in the crime suppression unit, hoping to continue serious gains in targeting crime hot spots that plague communities.
Police Chief Bobby Dodd said the five-officer unit doubled to 10 officers and soon will add four deputies from the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office. The comments were made in an editorial board interview with the Chattanooga Times Free Press on Monday
The same criminals that come into the city to commit crimes are “laying their heads down at night in the county,” Dodd said.
The multiagency unit better tracks serious offenders by working in both areas and focusing on repeat offenders, trouble spots and gang-related crime, he said.
In the three years since the five-officer outfit formed under Dodd’s direction, the crime suppression unit has made 421 drug arrests, 438 felony arrests and seized 157 weapons, according to the chief.
The unit targets high-crime areas that can shift quickly, working with patrol officers in their areas, acting as a “force multiplier” by adding 10 or more officers to a district that might normally have only one, he said.
BY THE NUMBERSCrime Suppression Unit numbers 2007 to present:157 – Search warrants executed773 – Misdemeanor arrests438 – Felony arrests 115 – Gun arrests157 – Weapons seized421 – Drug arrests2,213 – Gang contactsSource: Chattanooga Police Department
Overall, the department is down 65 officers and another 40 are eligible to retire at any time, and the chief said his priority is to staff the patrol districts fully. By adding more officers to the crime suppression unit, he said patrol officers can be freed up to respond to emergency calls while the unit tackles more complex problems.
Hugh Reece, community outreach coordinator for the Hamilton County Coalition/M.L. King Weed and Seed program, a group that seeks to reduce neighborhood crime, said the expanding the unit is welcome change.
“That’ll put more officers on the street,” he said. “A lot more can get done.”
Reece compared the unit with his previous interaction with the Chattanooga Gangs Task Force.
“They made good connections and they knew when something was about to happen,” he said. “They were able to squash it and get it under control.”
But Dodd stressed that the police, both on patrol and in the suppression unit, can’t do it all and, unless residents share information, police are at a disadvantage.
“You can’t hide behind your curtains and window shades,” he said.
Antoinette Pereira, president of the North Shore Neighborhood Improvement Association, said residents took action when crime increased a year ago.
North Shore residents were hit with a string of 14 burglaries earlier this summer, which resulted in eight suspects arrested on 23 counts and neighborhood meetings to address crime in the area.
“In our particular neighborhood people who have seen acts are more than willing to testify,” she said. “I think police are doing an admirable job. I think the system is not working well.”
Even though the spate of recent incidents has subsided, crime continues in areas and she said association members have built tighter bonds out of the experience and continue to work on different aspects of safety.
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