GWINNETT COUNTY, GA — Gwinnett County’s newest city is considering whether to create its own police department instead of continuing to pay for coverage from Gwinnett County Police.
Mulberry Mayor Michael Coker said a city committee is considering three options: expanding the powers of the city’s Marshal’s Office, creating a police department, or continuing with the current Gwinnett County Police coverage.
“Do we look at entirely starting our own police department?” Coker said.
The city currently pays Gwinnett County roughly $10 million for police services. Coker said the committee considered whether those funds could instead support a local department.
“We would take the existing taxes that were paying for police services to Gwinnett County, and instead of keeping those at Gwinnett County those taxes would be transferred to the city of Mulberry to ultimately fund our own local department,” Coker said.
Coker said the cost of starting a police department was among the issues considered by the committee.
“It’s gots to be expensive right, to have police cars, guns, vests, and so that was one thing the committee really looked at, is to determine if this is something we could even afford,” Coker said.
Some residents have raised concerns about what creating a police department could mean for property taxes. Coker said residents currently pay about 2.9 mills for county police services and that the same amount would instead go to the city if Mulberry established its own department.
Mulberry’s original charter prohibited the city from collecting city property taxes, but that language has since been removed.
Any decision to change the city’s law enforcement services would ultimately go before Mulberry voters in a referendum.
“This is going to be a decision that’s made by the residents in a referendum through a vote,” Coker said.
Gwinnett County Police will continue responding to 911 calls in Mulberry in the meantime.
Another recently established metro Atlanta city, Mableton, is moving forward with plans for its own police department, with the goal of having it operational next year. Mableton recently established a millage rate to fund the department.
WSB Radio’s Ashley Simmons & Keith Cromwell contributed to this story.
