This unit partners with other government and community organizations to help fix small problems before they become bigger by enforcing existing codes, ordinances, and laws.

The unit focuses on specific neighborhoods with elevated crime statistics. Officers primarily enforce existing ordinances related to litter, trash, dumping, junk cars, parking, signs, graffiti, maintenance, storage, zoning, and occupancy.

Other County departments involved with this effort include Planning and Development, Environmental Health, Fire, Transportation, and Public Utilities.

A small problem left unfixed leads to bigger problems. It says nobody cares - and that says a lot about a community. If nobody cares about the little things, then it must be okay to break more laws. Soon, criminal activity festers.


In Gwinnett County, people care. We don't tolerate such things as litter, graffiti, illegal signs, peddlers, or illegal dumping. Local laws clearly set standards of acceptable behavior in our communities. Renters and property owners alike share concerns about the safety and attractiveness of Gwinnett neighborhoods and shopping areas.

Individuals, businesses, and neighborhood groups work together with county government to help clean up eyesores, enforce laws and regulations, and encourage everyone who lives, works, or owns property here to take pride in our community.

The goal is to protect and preserve the quality-of-life that attracted Gwinnett residents in the first place. Keeping communities desirable and free of crime makes sense. People who live here want to raise their children in a safe and healthy neighborhood. Those who work here want to do business in a progressive, dynamic environment. Property owners want the value of their investment to grow.

You can help just by being another pair of eyes looking for problem areas. By working together, we can make a difference.

Click in the left navigation bar to see a brochure or video about the program, explanations of typical violations, a summary of prohibited signs, and a flier about how to report violations. Documents in .pdf format require free Adobe Acrobat Reader software to open.

Sgt. David Spell

Have you ever driven through a neighborhood and just shaken your head in disbelief? We have all seen the trash strewn across the yard, the junk vehicles parked in the yard and in the street, high grass and weeds, houses with rotted boards hanging off, dogs roaming the streets, and the list goes on and on. These are the kinds of issues that the Quality of Life Unit was created to deal with.

The driving philosophy behind the unit is that, "Disorder and decay breed crime." Neighborhoods are chosen for revitalization based on high crime statistics and the fact that it is starting to look run down. We don't spend much time in communities that are low in crime and look good!

Revitalizing neighborhoods is the biggest part of what the QOLU does but that is not all. Taxi enforcement is another area where the unit works aggressively. Recently we wrote about 75 taxi tickets in a 2 day period and impounded several that had registration issues. The QOLU has actually learned that because of our aggressive enforcement of the taxi ordinances, many companies are removing all of their markings. This will make it more difficult to catch them but the officers in the unit will find a way to nab them.

Illegal and prohibited signs are also addressed by the QOLU. We pull up everything from garage and yard sale signs, real estate signs, signs advertising small businesses, and so many more. The team usually devotes 2 days a month to doing sign sweeps. This past Saturday, for example, we checked out a couple of pickup trucks from fleet maintenance and plucked 750 illegal signs. We normally pull up close to 1500 signs every month and fill up a number of different dumpsters!

In January of 2007, the Quality of Life Unit became the Quality of Life Section of the Gwinnett County Police Department. The Code Enforcement Unit, the Environmental Enforcement Unit and the Police Enforcement Unit all merged into the newly formed section under the command of Major Dan Branch. Our office is located on Oakbrook Parkway in Norcross.

To report a violation online click here.