At a Mableton District 2 Town Hall meeting, new public safety director outlines his priorities for the city

Photo above: Dr. Anthony Kerry Stallings/ by Gabriela Henriquez Stoikow

By Gabriela Henriquez Stoikow

On Tuesday evening, District 2 residents of Mableton gathered for a town hall meeting with Councilman Michael McNeely.

At the meeting, the inaugural Mableton Public Safety Director, Dr. Anthony Kerry Stallings, outlined his priorities for Mableton residents, talked about the progress on setting up the new police department and addressed concerns over the use of Flock cameras.

Stallings said the search for a chief of police is still ongoing, but he was excited about the candidates they are interviewing –he previously told the Cobb County Courier he was involved in the selection process. He said his main priority is to get the police department fully stood up. To do so, on October 1, they are planning on opening the portal to start receiving applications for police officers. They’re also looking for police facilities.

“We want to get a police department fully staffed. We want to get the building. We want to get the cars. We want to get trained. We want to get them on the road and comfortable, and we want to get into the swing of things,” he said.

“What you’re going to see is by June 1st, when that launch date hits, you’re going to have a fully functional, fully prepared police department ready to go out and get Mableton a Mableton specific response,” Stallings said.

Stallings said they hope to hire about 70 police officers and 10 civilian staff by June 1, 2027 –or about 0.85 officers per 1,000 residents.

He explained that precinct 2 of Cobb County Police, which encompasses Mableton, Austell and Powder Springs, has about 84 designated officers.

He said Mableton officers will be recruited from multiple agencies, and he is hoping to have about 1,000 applicants to pick from. But only when they open the application process, will they know where the applicants are coming from.

Then, they will progressively increase the number of police officers year by year. He referenced the police departments of Sandy Springs, Stockbridge, and Smyrna, which took a similar approach of scaling their police force incrementally. “We’re going to get our numbers to start [and] we’re going to keep evaluating the needs of the community and we’re going to respond to those,” he said.

Stallings said he wants to have a first-rate police department, and to do so, they’re looking for the right leadership to set up a good culture within the department.

“We’re about to roll out our initial recruiting effort, and we’ve got our starting number, and we’re going to be one of the higher-paid police departments on the west side of the city,” Stallings said. “We’re going to be in that top 10 agencies statewide of our starting pay.”

One resident said she used to live in Smyrna and appreciated when police officers showed up at their HOA meetings.

Stallings said he wants to take a community-centered approach to policing and public safety. “In Mableton … We’re not going to just have an officer with a title. We’re going to have a person whose job it is to engage [with] you and to listen to you, and to report back and then [you will] see changes. If you’re not seeing changes from your interactions with your community officers, then you need to let me know so we can get you a different community officer.”

As for emergency management, he said he already has meetings set up with Cobb Emergency Management Agency (CEMA) and Georgia Emergency Management Agency (GEMA) “We’re going to work on a Mableton specific emergency management plan,” he said.

He said he will continue to evaluate the codes with code enforcement to make sure they represent what Mableton is trying to achieve as a community.

Stallings said that as Public Safety Director he aims to make data-driven decisions, and to do so, they’re still partnering with the data analytics of the county police department.

“Flock, like any technology, is only as good and ethical as its user,” Stallings said responding to a question regarding his stance on the use of Flock cameras. “Flock is a tool that, when used improperly, is like any other technology, and we need to start looking at who’s using it and why they’re using it.

He said Flock is the greatest investigative tool that has come out in the last four years, as it has been used to locate Alzheimer patients who have gotten lost, and find missing people. “It’s not technology,” he said. “It’s that misuse, so I don’t want us to overly focus on the tools … I want us to make sure that we’re watching the person that’s using it,” he said.