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DeKalb County announces $11.5M proposed plan for public safety and crime prevention

The county announced the plan includes a $3,000 bonus for public safety employees.

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Dekalb County announced a proposed multi-million public safety and crime prevention plan on Tuesday.

District officials said out of the $73 million given to the county by the American Rescue Plan, they will use $11.5 million to help fight crime in DeKalb County.

DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond said the funding will help the county to be more proactive in its fight against crime. 

“This funding will allow us to proactively work to mitigate the growing crisis of homicides and violent crimes in metro Atlanta and holistically address the root causes and effects of crime throughout DeKalb County,” Thurmond said. 

According to the district, the proposal allocates $6.7 million for a one-time protect and serve $3,000 retention bonuses for public safety employees including police officers, firefighters, medical examiner investigators, sheriff's deputies, district attorney's investigators, along with many others. 

Additionally, the district said the DeKalb County Public Safety Department will receive $2 million in funding for training, equipment and crime intervention.

The DeKalb County Police Department also plans to purchase a bus to be used as a mobile police precinct, officials said. 

There will also be funding available to hire three nurses through the DeKalb Community Service Board for the Mobile Crisis Unit, and courts and justice services to receive $3.2 million to reduce caseload backlog, officials said. 

Officials said this will be a year-long process and they will talk to DeKalb County residents and business owners. 

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