The new chief of the Cobb County Police Department spoke exclusively with Channel 2′s Cobb County Bureau Chief Michele Newell about his new role.
“We want people in Cobb County to know that we love and care for them and that our officers sacrifice for them,” said Chief Stuart VanHoozer of the Cobb County Police Department.
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Out of all the roles VanHoozer has held, including high-ranking positions over his past 32 years with the department, community engagement has always been his priority.
“The visibility of the police is good because that’s going to cut down on the violence, but the relationship that we are forming, again that link between the safety of the officers and the community is there. They understand the reason we are there is cause we care,” said VanHoozer.
It’s a passion VanHoozer wants to strengthen even more in his new role.
“We’d like to do ‘Cookies with a Cop’ in the community where we are seeing shootings and have the community affairs unit and some patrol officers go into that community in the following days to pass out stickers to kids.
“Do foot patrols, talk to the residents and let them know we are there, let them know that we care,” said VanHoozer.
Solving cold cases is another priority for VanHoozer.
“We just started a cold case unit that’s looking at some of these older cases that have stayed with me from my previous assignments,” said VanHoozer.
When it comes to crime in Cobb County, VanHoozer credits the department’s new real-time crime center as a tool that is being used to help tackle crime and catch suspects quickly.
“The real-time crime center is going very well and we have brought on complexes and new businesses,” VanHoozer stated.
Bringing on new partners to work with the crime center is currently in the works.
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“Some of these organizations that we are talking to are major retail centers,” said VanHoozer.
VanHoozer is also focused on bringing on new officers.
“We have over 80 openings in the Cobb County Police Department, and other agencies have similar situations. A diverse workforce is one of our goals. It’s very important to us, and we take many efforts to actually put that into place,” said VanHoozer. “You don’t have to be special to come work here. You just have to have a heart for people, you have to have a commitment for good and you have to want to join a culture that is supportive of that environment.”
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