In a letter released in late February, the Atlanta Public Schools announced it will not be renewing the Atlanta Police Department contract and instead will be creating an APS-specific police force. During the past 12 years, APS has contracted with APD to provide schools and school events with police. According to board members, the decision was based on a variety of financial, cultural and safety reasons.

Board Member Matt Westmoreland said hiring out police officers from the didn’t make as much sense due to the lack of connection between the schools and their officers.

“We spend 7.5 million dollars a year writing a check to the police force,” Westmoreland said.  “They’re just coming in and doing a job and leaving.They’re not full time members of the staff. They’re not part of the culture or community. ”

Westmoreland put an emphasis on difficulties APS has faced with meeting demand for officers for extracurriculars. There have been several APS events in the past that had to be canceled due to not having enough officers present to meet regulated safety requirements.

“Sometimes it’s been hard for us to be able to have officers do all the things [required],” Westmoreland said.  “We need to have them at [an event], they’ll call and say [the city has] this really big event going on, we need some officers, and that kind of puts us in a tough situation.”

The APS Police Force will eliminate the problem of officers being pulled off campuses for city events or emergencies, as it exists separately and is responsible only for the protection of APS schools and students.

The board additionally sees the creation of the APS Police Department as a way to support Superintendent Dr. Meria Carstarphen’s emphasis on a district-wide culture of safety and preparedness.

“School police officers will learn to diffuse situations as much as possible without having to resort to drastic measures,” Westmoreland said.

The formulation of the new force means that the school board is authorized to directly hire school police officers. The officers will undergo the same training and will have all the powers of other Atlanta police officers, but their responsibilities will be set by Dr. Carstarphen.

A $7.5 million grant APS received last year to be used for safety and security will fund much of the new police force. Last summer and fall, APS worked with an organization called West Ed, the expert in school safety and security, to apply for a grant from the National Institute of Justice. They received the grant in November of last year.

The Department of Operations will oversee the allocation of the grant money over the next five years.

At a December board meeting, the board also created four new positions for school safety administrators, under Dr. Carstarphen’s recommendation.

“Those positions are the first of the new APS Police Force,” Westmoreland said. “Starting on July first, we will bring a force in house. There will be some start up costs, new uniforms, new weapons, because they will be armed, cars, all the different kinds of equipment. “ Once again, this doesn’t rise to the level of being unique or particularly interesting enough to be quoted. Please paraphrase as an indirect quote with attribution)

The police officers currently stationed at APS schools are familiar with the work and, in some cases, have become staples of school culture. They will have the option to apply to be a part of the new force if they wish to remain working for APS.

“They’re more than welcome,” Westmoreland said, “In fact, encouraged.“

However, just because they can, doesn’t mean they will apply to the new program.

“I’m not going to apply,” Officer Williams said.

   APS will pay the salaries of the new officers with the $7.5 million a year the district  will no longer pay to contract the Atlanta Police Department.

APS is not the first school system to break from city or county officers. Other metro districts already utilize in-house police forces, including Fulton, DeKalb, Cobb, Gwinnett and Clayton.

“In some respects, we’re kind of taking a step that all of our neighbors have done for years,” Westmoreland said.