Thursday, May 24, 2007
News A new numbers game at APD
Posted by Alyssa Abkowitz on Thu, May 24, 2007 at 9:30 PM
Two months ago, Atlanta City Council repealed a broad disorderly conduct charge that ignited controversy because it appeared to allow police to arrest a person simply for hanging out. All a person had to do was be in what an officer designated as a “known drug area.†The offense, known as “DC-6,†was last charged on April 2, according to police records.
Before it was repealed, DC-6 was the most frequent charge cited by Atlanta police. As of Dec. 18, 7,551 arrests – about 22 a day – had been made in 2006, outpacing both criminal trespass and drinking in public.
CL checked back to see how things have changed since the law was taken off the books. According to preliminary arrest records from April 3 to May 14, first-offender possession has taken the place of DC-6, totaling 423 arrests – about 10 a day. That’s followed by criminal trespass at 408 and possession at 365.
When DC-6 was repealed, Sgt. Scott Kreher, head of the local International Brotherhood of Police Officers, told CL: "As far as affecting arrest numbers, [the repeal of DC-6] would be huge."
He’s absolutely right. The preliminary numbers show that police are making about half as many arrests since DC-6 was repealed.
That might not bode well for rank-and-file officers who say police Chief Richard Pennington has put a quota system in place to help drive arrest statistics.
This might be the beginning of a change in Pennington’s numbers game.
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