When Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens announced his bid for the city’s top job in 2021, homicides were at a two-decade high and police officers were leaving the force in droves.
Gun violence spiked in major cities across the country a year earlier as the COVID-19 pandemic raged, and people took to the streets in protest of police brutality.
In the months that followed, some of Atlanta’s officers applied to other agencies or left the profession entirely. Many cited a lack of support — especially after some were fired or criminally charged in use-of-force cases…