As Chickamauga has grown, taking in portions of U.S. Highway 27 and adding businesses, crime also has increased, including burglaries and thefts that records show more than doubled since 2003.
The police department hasn’t kept up, officials say.
“We’ve maintained the same size department that we’ve had in the past – [basically] one officer per shift,” Chickamauga Police Chief Micheal Haney said. “That officer … was having to work cases, patrol and work traffic at the same time.”
The police department, which has five full-time and five part-time officers, always has at least one officer on duty, and Haney said he also is on duty during the day. On average, the department answers about 2,000 calls a year, he said.
Now for the first time, the city of fewer than 3,000 people will be able to add a detective, taking a burden off the patrol officer on shift, Haney said.
Crime rates in ChickamaugaYear* / Violent crime / Property crime2009 / 18 / 1002007 / 12 / 912003 / 1 / 45* Years availableSource: Chickamauga Police Department
Sgt. Ira Taylor was promoted to detective after the City Council approved the position on Oct. 4. His new duties start later this week.
The city voted to add $20,000 from its general budget to help cover the costs of the position, City Manager John Culpepper said.
“It’s going to improve service to Chickamauga,” Culpepper said. “We’re small, but we’re beginning to see some of the same problems as larger cities are seeing.”
Burglaries generally take the most time to investigate, Haney said.
In 2009, Chickamauga police reported 24 burglaries, 73 thefts and three thefts from motor vehicles. That’s up from 2003, when a total of 45 cases of property crime were reported, according to FBI crime statistics.
The new detective position also will eliminate about 70 percent of overtime in the department, helping to cut costs, Haney said.
“This will free the patrol officer to do his job more efficiently,” he said.
City officials and local residents say they became more aware of the need in August after police reported breaking up a prescription drug ring operating from a downtown tanning salon. Nine people were charged.
“I think everybody’s eyes were opened,” Culpepper said.
“We couldn’t believe it,” said Jerry Davis, who owns Oh Fiddle-Dee Shoppe, an antiques store a block from the tanning salon.
Business owners haven’t had many complaints downtown, but added protection from patrol officers could help when the need arises, Davis said.
Taylor said he’s realized for several months that more officers were needed.
In May, he was taken off his normal patrol shift to begin the undercover sting at the Jamaica Me Tan salon, but he had to juggle between the investigation and regular patrol shifts when a part-time officer couldn’t fill his position.
“It’s been multitasking,” Taylor said. “It’s been one person doing two jobs.”
Haney said the department sometimes had to ask the Walker County Sheriff’s Office or the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to help with an investigation.
The detective position should mean fewer calls for outside agency assistance, he said.
Sheriff Steve Wilson said Chickamauga’s requests for help weren’t a problem, but the new position in Chickamauga should make a difference.
“It will give us more manpower,” Wilson said.