Atlanta City Council President and mayoral candidate Felicia Moore on Friday released details of her plan to combat violent crime — focusing on children, cops, courts, community and code enforcement — as the mayor’s race enters its final month before the Nov. 2 election.
Moore said at a Friday press conference that her administration will partner with Atlanta Public Schools to end the “school-to-prison pipeline,” by providing teenagers job training programs that will pay them. Moore said she also wants to develop STEAM-focused after school programs, and partnerships with unions, to support single parents with paid jobs and opportunities for home ownership.
“We can’t just arrest our way out of this crisis,” Moore said at Grady Hospital Plaza. “Locking up more young men doesn’t solve our problems, it just makes things worse.”
Crime has risen as the top issue in the race, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution poll of 842 likely voters.
Moore and the other leading candidates have all made public safety a central point of their campaigns.
Moore said the city is currently instituting a program to put desk officers on the streets for a few hours a week, and she wants officers to interact with residents for at least one shift a week. She promised to provide incentives to rehire at least 200 new officers — replacements for the 400 to 700 officers the department has lost — within her first 100 days.
She also wants to expand community policing and interactions with the activist community to ensure everyone is “on the same page” about how the police will interact with citizens during protests.
Moore also vowed to reform the department with several actions: creation of a comprehensive system for officers to report misconduct; a new, independent police investigation unit to root out corruption and abuse; and a policy of releasing body cam video footage from police shootings within 72 hours.
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Credit: Steve Schaefer
Atlanta’s diversion programs would expand to support people suffering from substance abuse regionally in a Moore administration, she said. Moore also wants to prevent the release of violent and repeat offenders, and she wants to open the city detention center to house Fulton County’s inmates.
Within the first 60 days of her administration, Moore said she wants to hire 50% of the license and permits inspectors needed to enforce the law with the city’s beverage holders, especially against businesses serving alcohol to minors.
Moore also promised to establish officer friendly programs at schools, “no-questions-asked” homeless shelters, neighborhood watch programs, eliciting cheers from her supporters.
“(Children) underpin the future of Atlanta,” Moore said. “But that future won’t be real, can’t be real, unless we address crime here and now, while also investing in crime prevention long term.”
Moore and the four other leading candidates will be joining the AJC for the newsroom’s Community Conversation series on Oct. 4. RSVP at AJC.com/conversation to join the event.
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