Photo above: Dr. Anthony Kerry Stallings, by Gabriela Henriquez Stoikow
By Gabriela Henriquez Stoikow
On Wednesday evening, Mableton City Council appointed Dr. Anthony Kerry Stallings, who currently serves as Public Safety Director, to assume the role of interim chief of police while the city works on the recruitment of a person to assume the position permanently.
In a unanimous vote, city commissioners approved a resolution with the new designation. The designation as interim police chief allows Stallings to buy necessary equipment to establish the new police department of the city, including police standard vehicles and firearms. He has a Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) certification, which gives him the credentials to make such purchases.
“If we delay the purchase of vehicles until we get a police chief on board, it will be like November before we can place that order, which would push the vehicles beyond when we’re trying to start,” Stallings told the Cobb County Courier. “It’s just an administrative function.”
Stallings confirmed to the Cobb County Courier that he is involved, along with the City Council, in the process of recruiting a permanent chief of police but couldn’t disclose the timeline for when they expect to permanently hire the new official. “Quicker rather than later because we have a lot of work to do to stand up,” he said. He said it was not anticipated that he would be compensated for the interim position.
One Mableton resident, Michael Murphy, asked the commission to organize a public presentation of the chief of police finalists when the time comes. “I think it would be helpful to the community to see what the selection would look like and move along ways to assure involvement,” he said.
Dr. Stallings was appointed as Mableton’s inaugural Public Safety Director on August 26. In this role, he became responsible for overseeing the creation, structuring and administration of Mableton’s municipal public safety framework–including its new police department. He also oversees emergency management and code enforcement.
At the meeting, Councilmember T.J. Ferguson said the need to have a public safety director, and a chief of police relies on the fact that the chief oversees leading a police department. Officers, training, patrol, investigations and crime prevention. The public safety director has a broad responsibility of helping build, coordinate and oversee public safety for the entire city. “Policing is an essential part of public safety; it is not the entirety of public safety,” he said.
“I believe we selected the right person to begin that work,” Ferguson said.
Prior to joining Mableton, Stallings served as chief of police for the University System of Georgia, leading safety operations across 24 departments.
He formerly served as a police officer for Cobb County and Dunwoody, and as a captain in the Powder Springs Police Department. Stallings holds a Ph.D. in public administration and a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice/safety studies.
Stallings’ appointments come after the city and Cobb County could not reach a long-term agreement for police services. The city was seeking a long-term and stable law enforcement agreement with Cobb County through 2034, but the agreement proposed and adopted by the county prohibits the extension of the police services to Mableton beyond one year. Following negotiations, the city decided to create its own independent Public Safety Division, which includes law enforcement services.
The creation of the new department previously drew concerns from Mableton residents who said the process was not transparent and that a new police department would place a financial burden on the city and its residents.
Gabriela Henriquez Stoikow is a bilingual journalist based in Atlanta, Georgia, covering local news, immigration, and healthcare. She has previously worked at The Miami Herald, CNN, and Miami Today News, and her work has been featured in the Atlanta Business Chronicle, WABE, Rough Draft, and Documented NY. She won the Atlanta Press Club’s Rising Star Award in 2025 and was a finalist for the Reporting on Civil and Human Rights category of the Awards of Excellence in 2026.