By Jake Derry
If you’ve noticed the absence of the familiar Candler Park-Lake Claire Patrol car cruising Candler Park and Lake Claire lately, there’s a good reason: it’s been retired.
The Candler Park-Lake Claire Patrol has quietly made a significant operational shift, and residents wondering where the patrol went may actually start seeing more police presence, not less, just in a different form.
The patrol’s 2011 Honda CRV has been taken out of service, and CPLC Patrol officers are now taking advantage of an offer from the Atlanta Police Department that allows them to conduct neighborhood patrols in marked APD vehicles. What that means for residents is straightforward: instead of the familiar neighborhood-branded car, you may now see a marked APD cruiser making rounds through Beat 608.
The change puts CPLC Patrol in different company than some of its neighbors. Both the Inman Park Security Patrol and the Druid Hills Patrol continue to operate their own dedicated neighborhood vehicles. Inman Park’s website describes officers patrolling “in IPNA’s own marked patrol vehicle,” and Druid Hills Patrol prominently features its own branded vehicle on its website. CPLC’s move to APD cars represents a departure from that model, and it’s one that the patrol views as an upgrade.
The benefits, according to the patrol, are substantial. Officers using APD vehicles are instantly recognizable as law enforcement, removing any ambiguity about who is patrolling the streets. They have access to in-car computers, are GPS-tracked by APD, which means help can reach them more quickly if needed, and are operating out of vehicles designed around police equipment and gear.
There’s also a safety dimension to the change that may surprise some residents. CPLC Patrol officers operating in the neighborhood-owned car had reportedly been questioned and harassed while on duty, and in at least one instance last winter, had snowballs thrown at the vehicle. Perhaps most telling, some residents had questioned whether the officers were actually affiliated with APD at all. Patrolling in a genuine APD cruiser eliminates that confusion entirely.
On the financial side, the patrol no longer has to carry the cost of maintaining and eventually replacing an aging vehicle, an obligation that had been looming given the CRV’s age. Those maintenance dollars can now be redirected toward actual patrol hours.
The patrol noted that, as a matter of standard practice, it does not publish specific information about when or where patrols take place, or how many hours are logged in a given month. This is intentional. Keeping the patrol’s schedule unpredictable is part of what makes it effective as a deterrent, and the patrol aims to use its full patrol hours’ budget each month. Residents looking to support the CPLC Patrol or learn more can visit cplcpatrol.org. Membership dues directly fund the patrol hours that keep our neighborhood safer.