Chief Judge Christopher Ward told the Public Safety & Legal Administration Committee that the Municipal Court of Atlanta has six operational divisions and has experienced a post-pandemic rise in filings.

"I am Christopher Ward, chief judge of the Municipal Court of Atlanta, and it's my honor to to represent the, judicial branch of our municipal government," Ward said, then summarized divisions that include DUI, general traffic, housing and code, community court and in-custody first appearances.

Ward reported roughly 28,000 courthouse visits per month and year-to-date case filings of about 250,026 individual visits to the courthouse; he projected the municipal court would handle roughly 138,000 case filings in 2025. He also reported 798 weapons and contraband confiscated at courthouse security checkpoints year-to-date.

Ward described diversion and community-based programs available through the court, including diversion options, homeless court, alcohol/drug evaluation and treatment, anger-management programs and community-service conversions for fines. He said these programs convert fines into community service hours when defendants cannot pay; the court converted approximately 18,000 hours of community service from fines as of a September report.

Ward told the committee the judges plan to increase daily arraignment capacity in 2026 to handle higher filing volumes, and he asked councilmembers to publicize and support court community events: an Out of the Darkness suicide-prevention walk on Nov. 2 and a second annual Day of Giving on Nov. 21.

Councilmembers thanked the court for outreach and offered to circulate event materials through city communications channels. No formal action was taken; the presentation was informational.