Stacey Abrams says if elected governor of Georgia she will do something Republicans have insisted she won't: fund the police.

Driving the news: As the second prong of the public safety and criminal justice reform platform first shared with Axios, Abrams is proposing to raise the base pay for Georgia state troopers, adult and juvenile correctional officers and community supervision officers to $50,000 per year.

• She also wants to create a grant program to help local departments raise pay and change the state’s law enforcement training standards and accountability controls.

Why it matters: Taken together with her plan to institute gun control measures, Abrams argues Democrats can do both: "We have to support law enforcement, but we also have to have meaningful accountability."

Flashback: Many Americans' views on funding for police have shifted since the summer of 2020, when the Atlanta City Council nearly voted to withhold its police budget, and some Democratic politicians have responded.

The big picture: Abrams, in an interview with Axios, said she believes "higher pay leads to fewer negative interactions and fewer use of force incidents."

• "When we make smart investments in our law enforcement, we get better officer recruitment, we get better retention, we get better interaction with the community and we get a safer Georgia," she said.

The other side: Since taking office, Kemp has pushed for multiple pay increases for law enforcement, including a $5,000 raise for all state employees last year, two correctional officer raises and a $1,000 bonus for law enforcement and firefighters this year. He has endorsements from most of Georgia’s sheriffs.

• Abrams argues this isn't enough, pointing out that a Department of Juvenile Justice officer's base pay is just under $38,000 with a 90% turnover rate.

Read on for the complete plan and law enforcement response.

Editor’s note: The New Georgia Project, which is an advertiser today, was founded by Stacey Abrams, but has no editorial input on Axios Atlanta.

Welcome to Remember When, a semi-regular Throwback Thursday feature where we revisit the largely forgotten strange, uplifting, pivotal or baffling moments from Atlanta’s history.

Throughout the 20th century, Atlanta officials battled a menace afflicting the youth. "Spooning," "necking," "parking." Call it whatever you wish.

• One city official, John A. White, saw the importance of making sure people could practice this pastime safely.

Flashback: In 1915, six months or so after a young out-of-town couple was arrested for after hours spooning, J. Oscar Cochran, the head of the parks department, "proved himself a lover of lovers" when he announced plans for new swings in Piedmont Park.

• "I want plenty of benches and swings in the parks for spooners, and I want the young men and young ladies of Atlanta to take advantage of the attractiveness of our parks," Cochran is quoted as saying in a January 1915 edition of the Atlanta Constitution.

Yes, but: The following year, the parks commission assigned a "special detail of guards" to Piedmont Park in the afternoon to curb an "epidemic" of children's nurses making acquaintances — or even worse, "spooning" — with men, according to the Macon News.

Parking war: Fast forward to October 1954, when White, a member of the Board of Aldermen (the precursor to the Atlanta City Council) defended an ordinance he introduced the previous year permitting people to park in city green spaces — provided they didn't break any laws.

• White scoffed at the Atlanta Baptist Association's three-person strike force aimed at repealing the ordinance, saying "spooning teenagers were "better off in the park, under police supervision, than they would be on a lonely country road."

Read the full story.

Tonight, cable viewers will be introduced to a strange new concept: the idea that Buckhead has anything resembling a shore.

Driving the news: "Buckhead Shore," the offspring of the reality show "Jersey Shore," premieres at 9pm on MTV.

Why it matters: We're living in a pandemic, there's a land war in Ukraine and inflation is through the roof.

• But your coworkers might talk about this, so here we are.

Details: The show follows friends who party in a house on Lake Burton that belongs to the owners of the Zaxby’s fast-food empire. The son of that family, Parker Lipman, fancies himself as the group's "head buck," MTV says.

• The crew includes one of the managers of legendary strip club Magic City, a musician whose dad wrote hits for Bobby Brown and Boyz II Men, a model, an aviation mechanic and others, the AJC's Rodney Ho reports.

Cast member Bethania Locke told Ho the friends work and party in Buckhead and escape the city at Lake Burton. There, they'll cavort and engage in reality TV behavior.

Thomas' thought bubble: I don't have cable so please let me know how this goes.

🧐 The DOJ is expanding its probe into pro-Trump fake elector schemes, including in Georgia. (Washington Post)

🏗 The developer behind the revamps of Avalon and Colony Square wants to tackle a suburban office complex next. (AJC)

🤰States including Georgia have extended Medicaid for new mothers, even as they reject broader expansion. (Kaiser Health News)

💉 Senators released a plan to restrict insulin prices, featuring Sen. Raphael Warnock's proposed $35 monthly copay cap. (Roll Call)

🪩 The annual Southern Fried Queer Pride Festival returns with drag pageants, dance parties and more. (WABE)

🏨 Plans for Centennial Yards' hotel and apartments are moving ahead. (Urbanize)

⭐️ Ludacris is getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. (WSB)

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