President’s Update 3-24-2021

Some residents recently asked me questions about our Security Department and what it does and does not do. I thought this would be an appropriate time to share my answers with the community.

At the outset, there are two points I want to emphasize. The first is that our Security Officers are unarmed. The second is that if a resident sees criminal activity, the first call should be to the Chatham County Police Department. The second call can be to our Security Department.

Our Security Department has 25 full-time employees. Officers are assigned to three shifts. During the day and afternoon shifts, there are two officers at the Main Access Control facility (Main Gate); one patrol officer for the north end of the community; one officer for the south end; and one supervisory officer. There is one officer at the North Gate from 7 a.m. - 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. The midnight shift has one officer at the Main Gate, one supervisor, and one officer patrolling the north and south ends of the community, respectively.

There are three basic responsibilities for the Security Department -- Access Control, Emergency Service Assistance, and Unarmed Patrol Operations. Access Control Officers verify entry for residents, guests, vendors, employees, and other categories of visitors; answer the callboxes for unstaffed gates; issue RFIDs; answer telephone calls; and observe the cameras. The officers do not monitor the cameras. The Access Control Officer at the North Gate sells passes to vendors and sells commercial dump tickets.

The emergency service assistance function involves responding and assisting emergency personnel during or after an incident as needed. We often see the patrol cars with lights flashing, waiting to lead emergency vehicles to the location, saving valuable time in response.

The patrol operations cover many of the functions we are familiar with -- proactive patrols; special patrols; responding to emergencies and calls for service; residential and facility premise checks; traffic control; golf cart registration; RFID placement; and Covenants and Rules and Regulations enforcement. Our patrol officers perform many functions and literally have a lot of territory to cover.

Our Security Department has a broad range of responsibilities to help daily life in The Landings run smoothly. We ask our staff to do many things, but we do not ask them to perform law enforcement functions. As I previously mentioned, our community looks to Chatham County Police to perform that role. This is not a new development or a recent shifting in responsibility.

The purpose of my update is to inform the community what services our Security Department performs on a daily basis. We are very fortunate to have dedicated employees who perform their jobs as professionals.