Atlanta’s patrol zones. Image via APD.

The Atlanta Police Department has made changes to the borders of four of its six geographical zones to better distribute officers’ workloads.

The redesign is part of a data-driven effort to improve response times and ensure appropriate coverage, according to police materials. The changes go into effect on March 17.

“Periodic statistical examinations of the Zone boundaries are made, with consideration given to factors such as economic growth, population growth, traffic patterns and calls for service and adjustments are made as necessary to ensure that each zone carries roughly the same workload,” police materials indicate. “The process is known as a beat realignment, the last of which occurred in 2011. For this beat redesign, the department relied on the assistance of the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering with the Georgia Institute of Technology.”

Generally speaking, Atlanta’s zones are defined as:

• Zone 1: Northwest Atlanta
• Zone 2: Buckhead/Northeast Atlanta
• Zone 3: Southeast Atlanta
• Zone 4: Southwest Atlanta
• Zone 5: Downtown/Midtown Atlanta
• Zone 6: East Atlanta

These zones are then sub divided into 13-14 beats which are assigned to specific patrol officers. The following changes have been made to the map:

• Current beat 203, on the southwest border of zone 2 which includes the neighborhoods of Riverside, Whittier Mill Village, Hills Park, Bolton and Blandtown, will become beat 103, the northernmost area of zone 1.
• Current beat 103, in an area west of Downtown east of Joseph E. Lowery Boulevard and north of Joseph E. Boone Boulevard that encompasses the English Avenue neighborhood and portions of west Midtown, will become beat 506, becoming the westernmost portion of zone 5.
• Current beat 506, encompassing eastern portions of Midtown known as the “Garden District,” will become beat 614, as part of zone 6.
• Current beat 213, in an area of northeast Atlanta that includes Cheshire Bridge Road on the northern border and the Morningside and Piedmont Heights neighborhoods, will become beat 613, as part of zone 6.

For more information on how the beats are broken down or to see which zone you live in, click here.

“It’s important that we examine our officer workload periodically and with the help of Georgia Tech we were able to do so in a data-driven manner,” Deputy Chief Jeff Glazier, commander of APD’s Field Operations Division, said in a statement.  “We are confident these changes will balance the workload in all Zones.”