ATLANTA — Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens' has completed his first 100 days in office.
When Dickens officially became the city's mayor, he said he was focused on cutting crime and put Chief Rodney Bryant on a 100-day contract to add pressure to the progress he wanted to see.
On Tuesday, Mayor Dickens said he is now reviewing all sorts of data to see if Bryant is the right person to stay on the job, or if Bryant needs to be replaced.
"Every morning I wake up, I talk with him and my COO about what happened the day before and what our strategy is the next day," Dickens said.
Whether Bryant will continue to be on that morning call is uncertain.
During the mayoral election, Dickens explained in an interview with 11Alive why he would give Bryant 100 days compared to his opponent Felicia Moore who pledged to fire Bryant on day one in office.
"We want safety, we want to make sure we are recruiting, we want to retain officers and we want to make sure this violent crime wave goes down," Dickens said during the November interview. "So if that is being achieved, with new leadership, with me being mayor I think the chief having 100 days to demonstrate that makes more sense to me."
Dickens said Tuesday he would now be looking at all of the above as he makes his decision.
"Over the next few days we are going to take a look at it and then I'll be back with everyone about my decision," Dickens said.
Compared to the same point last year, homicides in Atlanta are up, with 52 homicides versus 37 in 2021.
While robberies and vehicle thefts are down, assaults haven't significantly changed.
Dickens said as he is looking ahead he is focused on making sure homicides and violent crime overall don't spike during the summer.
"We kind of managed well spring break, so everything from youth-related crime, that is why we have our new repeat offenders unit, this nightlife division, all of these things are on the positive side. But there is still too much activity for me, so that is why I'm taking a deeper look at it right now," he said.
Dickens said the police department is making improvements when it comes to officer morale and hiring. He believed the city will meet a goal to hire 250 new officers during his first year in office.
Dickens added that improving morale is making APD a more attractive place to work, leading to a surge in recruitment numbers, including at a recent officer hiring event at Lenox Square Mall.
During Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms' term, where several officers found themselves facing criminal charges for how they responded to various situations, officers told 11Alive morale hit record lows.
That led to dozens of officers calling out sick for their shifts.
Dickens said he's put in work and has made sure he is present to hear from officers about their needs and concerns.
"I've gone to every roll call in every zone, I've gone to facilities that police say have never been visited before," Dickens said, "They've complained about their cars so I've gone to the fleet department to understand about how their cars are being maintained and learn how we can buy new cars and make sure that is taking place. Everything about their housing and various other arrangements. I'm being very attentive to the needs of our police department and our fire department as well. I've gone to roll calls of our fire department."
Atlanta Police Lt. Kevin Knapp is the police union's president. He told 11Alive Tuesday that improvements are being made, but in his view, morale is perhaps not improving as quickly as Dickens believes.
"Mayor Dickens has definitely gone above and beyond what we've expected from him for his first 100 days," Knapp said. "There is no doubt Mayor Dickens and his staff have been on scene of many different incidents. They're making several roll calls. The officers are seeing them. But of course the previous four years before Mayor Dickens, the officers have a little bit of a bad taste in their mouth from that and Mayor Dickens knows that we've got to do some strides to get back to where we were before."
Knapp said to truly improve officer morale their trust needs to be earned and he believes right now Dickens is making progress. He also credited the mayor with actually hearing and working to meet the needs that officers have expressed in meetings with Dickens.
One item that still needs to be addressed is starting salaries and signing bonuses, according to Knapp. He said the mayor needs to make sure APD is able to offer increased incentives to be competitive with comparable police departments when recruiting.