South Fulton Today

Buckhead residents want to secede from Atlanta and establish their own police as crime spikes in the area, the Daily Mail reported.

Bill White, CEO of the Buckhead City Committee and leader of the suburb's secession effort, criticized Atlanta officials including Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms for the increased crime rate after a jogger was shot, the newspaper said.

"They are just not paying attention to the crime. The leadership vacuum is substantial," White said, the Daily Mail reported.

Rep. Betsy Holland | Georgia House of Represntatives

State lawmakers, including Rep. Betsy Holland, have expressed their concerns regarding the secession movement, claiming that it will have a detrimental impact on a significant portion of the city's tax base.

"I have a dozen concerns about the neighborhood of Buckhead seceding from Atlanta, and one of the ones at the top is where the heck will our kids go to school?" Holland said in a Tweet.

Residents have been concerned by the crime surge in Buckhead this year, with aggravated assaults up 52 percent in the affluent neighborhood compared to a 26 percent increase citywide, WXIA-TV reported.

In a referendum that may reach the ballot in 2022, White predicts that about 80% of his neighborhood would vote in favor of the split from Atlanta, the Daily Mail reported.

A bill that authorizes the referendum has been introduced in the Georgia House of Representatives. The legislature will have the opportunity to vote on the measure during the 2022 session, the newspaper said.