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Police: new vehicles, equipment and staffing progress; fire department readies engines and training events
Summary
Police Chief and fire officials reported equipment purchases and staffing updates, recruitment activity, and training opportunities; police report backlog from a cybersecurity disruption remains a recovery item.
The Marietta Police Department said it is preparing to put eight new SUVs and a transport van into service and has ordered rifle suppressors for officer hearing protection. Chief Beam told council members that funding for suppressors came from local drug-forfeiture funds. The department also reported new traffic vests for K9s and plans to buy a ballistic vest for a growing K9.
Chief Beam said the department had one recent retirement, Officer David Auld (retired April 1), and multiple candidates in process to fill that vacancy plus openings for a public safety ambassador, a prisoner transport officer and a public police services representative. He told the council he expects those positions to be filled within a few weeks and that the department will increase enforcement details, traffic checkpoints and targeted "task force" operations.
Fire department staff reported two new engines are arriving soon and will undergo final inspection; staff said it takes time to outfit new apparatus before placing them in service and that the city will announce a traditional apparatus-in-service event. Fire officials said the department was selected to host two training programs at a regional firefighter conference because of its training tower and burn building, and staff view the selection as a recruiting and professional-development opportunity.
Both departments said they are still working through report backlogs created by a recent cybersecurity incident affecting a partner agency (Cobb County). IT staff told the council that Marietta severed its connection to Cobb while Cobb addressed an unauthorized user on its network; that outage lasted about 12 days and impacted police report-writing, creating a backlog of roughly 800 cases for police to recover.
Why it matters: Equipment, staffing and training affect emergency response capacity and public-safety operations; the cybersecurity-linked backlog shows operational dependencies on intergovernmental IT connections.
What's next: The police department expects hires within weeks and will phase in new vehicles and equipment; the fire department will announce dates for apparatus-in-service events and will host regional training sessions.
