Atlanta Police Launch Path Force Unit for Trail Loop

The Atlanta Police Department on Friday unveiled the Path Force Unit, a special unit of 15 mostly bicycle patrol officers to patrol the Beltline, a 22-mile loop of bicycle and pedestrian trails.

The unit, which is funded via a $1.8 million federal grant, began patrolling the Beltline in June, after several high-profile crimes on the newly touted city trail network, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution .

The new unit will be augmented by other Atlanta PD officers including mounted patrol units. Thieves have stolen cell phones and money from Beltway users on the completed 2.25-mile Eastside Trail that runs from 10th Street and Monroe Drive in upper Midtown to Irwin Street in the Old Fourth Ward.

Mayor Kasim Reed told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the Beltline "is going to be safe."