The Security Patrol is made up of off-duty Atlanta Police Department officers who patrol our neighborhood to give us an added measure of security.  The cost of this additional security is not cheap, and is paid for by neighbors who pay the extra $250 per year Security Patrol Fee to support the Security Patrol.  If you have not paid the annual $250 Security Patrol Fee, please consider doing so today by mailing your check to the Paces Civic Association, 1266 West Paces Ferry Rd, Box 168, Atlanta, GA 30327-2306.

The Paces Security Patrol generally patrols our neighborhood 8 hours each day, 7 days per week (though the number of hours they patrol may vary based entirely upon the number of neighbors who pay the $250 Security Patrol Fee to support his effort).  The officers are in uniform and patrol in marked and unmarked cars.  The Security Patrol checks houses, investigates suspicious cars, responds to security alarms, makes arrests, and most importantly, monitors the Atlanta Police Department radio which enables them to be the first on the scene if a 911 call comes in from our neighborhood and they are on duty.

As an additional service for those neighbors who pay the $250 Security Patrol Fee, the Security Patrol will check your house when you are out of town on vacation.  They will also take care of your trash cans and will move mail packages left on your front door step to a less obvious place if you are out of town so it is not obvious to thieves that you are not home.

In an effort to increase security for our neighborhood and to improve communication between neighbors and our Security Patrol, the Paces Civic Association Board has recently decided to provide the off duty APD officers who make up our Security Patrol with a new dedicated cell phone so that neighbors can contact the Security Patrol directly while they are on duty if needed.  The PCA Board agreed that there may be times that someone sees suspicious activity that might not rise to the level of a 911 call, but it would be most helpful if the Security Patrol happened to be on duty for them to investigate the suspicious activity in question.  Hence, this new cell phone access to the Security Patrol will meet that need.  This new cell phone number will be given out ONLY to neighbors who pay the annual $250 Security Patrol fee.  It is hoped that the added benefit of having access to this private number will increase neighborhood participation in the Security Patrol as well as provide for a safer neighborhood.

While our neighborhood has historically had a majority of neighbors who choose to support the Paces Security Patrol by paying the additional $250 Security Patrol Fee, there are some neighbors who choose not to join and cite the taxes they already pay as the reason.  That is certainly their prerogative. However, the reality is that the City of Atlanta has budget shortfalls and police staffing shortages, and police patrols are limited at best.  Our neighborhood falls into police Zone 2, and Zone 2 has 10 police "beats".  Our beat covers a very large area to begin with.  Because our beat has relatively few violent crimes, the police car patroling our beat in the past has been pulled to other beats with higher violent crime rates.  Hence, our neighborhood can be left unprotected.  Our neighborhood is a prime target, and $250 per year is a small price to pay for this added level of security.  Please consider joining if you have not already.