Cobb County plans to formally establish a program that adds armed police officers to its code enforcement ranks.

Among the laws the officers would enforce is the controversial limit on the number of adults who can live in a home, a measure that drew strong objections from advocates for immigrants.

Although lawyer Jamie Hernan said he had not seen the specific language of the code enforcement measure, he cautioned the county commissioners about how the officers in the so-called Quality of Life Unit might be used.

"We have seen other jurisdictions that have used these units to not only weed out undocumented immigrants, but to target the poor in general," said Hernan, whose law firm lists immigration work among its specialties.

Cobb County Commission Chairman Sam Olens said adding armed officers to code enforcement is another step in paying attention to the small things that make up quality of life.

"These violations are going to be viewed irrespective of race, income, culture, etc.," he said. The commission will consider the proposal Tuesday.

Gwinnett County created a similar unit in 2005, using armed police officers as an adjunct to its code enforcement officers, who are not armed or certified as police. Gwinnett also has taken the county code enforcement division under its Police Department, said Cpl. Illana T. Spellman, a police spokeswoman.

Kennesaw uses certified police officers for code enforcement.

They do not wear police uniforms but wear golf shirts identifying them as police.

The county code division enforces laws ranging from weed height to junk cars and zoning. Its scope includes enforcement of laws governing housing occupancy, solid waste and signs.

Said Olens: "It's a shame that it takes a police officer for some individuals to comply, but we don't live in a perfect world."

Since Cobb began the program in January, the officers also have run criminal checks on those served with violations.

That has resulted in 57 arrests for misdemeanors and six for felonies through last Thursday.

The cooperative venture also has produced 310 citations for ordinance violations, had 141 cars towed and confiscated more than 2,000 illegal signs.

"That's very good for that small a unit," said police Chief George Hatfield.

He said he did not see where the addition of officers to the code enforcement unit would be viewed as an attack on illegal immigrants, because the police department is not able to check a person's immigration status.

"We're not down there looking for illegals," Hatfield said.

In July, Cobb passed an ordinance limiting adult occupancy of a home to four, based on square footage.

The move drew howls from advocates for immigrants, who maintained it was a crackdown on those who can't afford more than a rented room in a home.

As of Friday, Cobb County officials had issued at least two citations and 44 warnings, called "notices of violation," under its home-overcrowding ordinance, according to public records. Of those 44 warnings, 34 are under investigation and 10 have been closed.

Hatfield said he did not think the police unit was involved in any of those citations.

Formalizing the quality of life unit and expanding the staff to four officers and a supervisor was not a response to enforcing the housing code, Hatfield said.

"If you want to look at the whole program overall, I think we have gotten more aggressive with all the ordinances, not just the housing ordinance," the chief said.

— Staff writer Jeremy Redmon contributed to this article.

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