Press Releases
Loudermilk Family Donates $1 Million to the Atlanta Police Foundation
Donation to benefit the re-named Operation Shield Loudermilk Video Integration Center
Atlanta Police Department Public Affairs
226 Peachtree Street SW • Atlanta, Georgia 30303
| Carlos Campos, APD Public Affairs Manager 404-546-4212, office 404-617-5073, cell cacampos@atlantaga.gov |
Scheree Moore, APD Public Affairs Asst. Manager 404-546-6874, office scmoore@atlantaga.gov |
News Release
Loudermilk Family Donates $1 Million to the Atlanta Police Foundation
Donation to benefit the re-named Operation Shield Loudermilk Video Integration Center
Mayor Kasim Reed, Atlanta Police Chief George Turner and Atlanta Police Foundation President Dave Wilkinson are pleased to announce a $1 million donation to the Atlanta Police Foundation from the family of R. Charles Loudermilk, Sr. This generous donation for the Foundation’s “Public Safety First” campaign will support the operation of the Operation Shield Video Integration Center (VIC).
In recognition of the donation, the VIC will be re-named on Monday to the “Loudermilk Operation Shield Video Integration Center.” An event in honor of the re-naming and donation will be held on Monday, March 19th at 4:15 p.m. in the center at 180 Peachtree Street in Downtown Atlanta.
The Loudermilk Video Integration Center features the latest in available technology in video integration and analytics allowing the Atlanta Police Department to have more eyes and ears on the streets, creating a best in class tool for crime prevention, crime response and emergency preparedness. This 24-hour command center is a state-of–the-art facility that patches in private and public sector cameras from around the city into one central hub monitored by the Atlanta Police Department.
“We are grateful to the Loudermilk family for their generous donation and in honor of it we are renaming the center for the Loudermilk family, thus allowing for their continued legacy in Atlanta,” said Mayor Kasim Reed. “Public safety has been a top priority for my administration, and this $1 million donation to the Loudermilk Video Integration Center supports our goal of Atlanta becoming the safest big city in America,”
Bringing together the public and private sector is vital as the City of Atlanta seeks to find innovative ways to fight crime. The surveillance network greatly enhances emergency preparedness by enabling police, fire and emergency professionals to better assess, prepare, respond and communicate before arriving on scene of an incident.
“The private sector plays such a vital role in reducing crime,” Atlanta Police Chief George Turner said. “Our mission statement is to ‘reduce crime and promote the quality of life in partnership with our community.’ There is no better example of that mission statement at work than in our partnership with the Atlanta Police Foundation. The Police Foundation provides businesses, and individuals, an opportunity to partner directly with the Atlanta Police Department in working towards becoming a world-class agency.”
Currently, cameras owned by the City of Atlanta, Midtown Alliance, and other private partners are integrated into the system. The goal is to deploy a network involving several thousand cameras.
“This leadership gift to the Public Safety First Campaign helps the Atlanta Police Foundation and Mayor Reed send a strong message to other supporters and to the community that public safety is essential to the health and welfare of our great city,” said Atlanta Police Foundation President Dave Wilkinson. “We thank the Loudermilk family for their continued leadership and support of the Atlanta Police Foundation.
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The mission of the Atlanta Police Department is to reduce crime and promote the quality of life, in partnership with our community.