Thursday, May 28, 2009
News Perception of Crime Watch®
Posted by Andisheh Nouraee on Thu, May 28, 2009 at 4:10 PM
Asked earlier this year about residents who are worried about crime in their neighborhoods, Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington said residents are feeling edgy and disturbed not because of crime itself, but because scary news about crime spreads fast and far over e-mail.
Mayor Shirley Franklin seems to agree with Pennington. She insists Atlanta is safer today than it's been for decades.
According to Pennington and Franklin, Atlanta isn't experiencing a crime wave. It's experiencing a perception of crime wave.
I agree.
I also believe we must band together as a community to put a stop to this emotional menace.
So I'm starting a new project here: Perception of Crime Watch®.
In the past 48 hours alone, the perception of crime has been extraordinarily active.
On Tuesday, the perception of crime shot and killed a man near Campbellton Road.
On Wednesday, the perception of crime burglarized Atlanta City Council President Lisa Borders home while she was inside.
Overnight, the perception of crime stole flat-screen TVs from two popular bars and stabbed a man to death in Midtown.
If the perception of crime breaks into your house and steals your TV, let me know. If the perception of crime carjacks you, mugs you, or steals your backpack out of your car, let me know.
I'll tell your story here, look into the case on your behalf. In the fight against the perception of crime, information is the best weapon. It'd be nice if a vigorous, engaged Mayor and an attentive police chief were our best weapons. But until that day comes, we'll have to make do with information.
(Photo by Joeff Davis)
Comments (63)
Showing 1-50 of 63
Crime IS down 10%, year-to-year, in the first three months of this year. I would imagine crime would have to RISE significantly for it to be classified as a crime wave. You live in the big city, Andisheh. Crime happens. Move to Mayberry and you may not have that problem.
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I agree with you 100%, S. Dekalb. I urge you to join the fight. This Perception of Crime Wave® needs to be tackled head-on!
"You live in the big city, Andisheh. Crime happens. Move to Mayberry and you may not have that problem." That's reasoning? Oh my God, S. Dekalb is displaying exactly what the problem is. Ok, ok, ok, I've got it. I'm seeing it much clearer now. Two of my neighbors got robbed, at their home, instead of the three neighbors that were robbed, at their home last month. Well damn, that's much better! Hah, what problem. Absolutely Mindless.
Obviously any crime is bad. We would all love to live in a crime free city/state/country/world. I fully support groups like ATAC, The Atlanta Police Foundation, and others that try and organize the community to fight crime. However, I do think classifying Atlanta as going through a crime wave is little exxagerated.
Look at the numbers a little more closely. That 10% down refers to the total number of crimes committed in the city. We are down approx 1,000 crimes comparing Jan-Mar 2009 with Jan-Mar 2008. About 460 of that 1,000 is the decrease in larceny under $50. That's 45% of the lauded decrease. If you count all larcenies, it's 85% of the decrease. I would submit larcenies are going unreported.But in any case, burglaries are UP during this period. Look for yourself: http://www.atlantapd.org/ucr/2009/03-2009.pdf
I checked out those numbers yesterday on Andy's advice. I think, in general, larcenies go unreported, but whose to say more are unreported this year as opposed to last? Violent crimes also appear to be down with the exception of rape.
OK, so the conversation has gone from "The Perception" though the media to a percentage one year to the next on paper. We are missing the point. How is the perception wrong or misleading when you are surrounded by the crime, see the crime, having conversations with friends and neighbors about the crime and yes, have friends killed by the crime. I've lived in my neighborhood for some time and when the crime is happening more around me, my perception tends to lead me to a simple conclusion. No doubt that we are every to anticipate or expect to live in a crime free City. To think that is about as absurd as believing that in my hood crime is not on the rise. But damn it, to make the excuse that "it's the City" and "it's expected" is alarming. To voice it is to try and lessing the crime. I'm not going to move from my neighborhood because the media has voiced a perception. funny thing is, I find myself agreeing with it.
The perception of crime hit Grant Central Pizza this past weekend. The joint had closed when the P.O.C. busted in and took a cash register.
And, I have to add this: A few years ago the POC stuck an ugly handgun in my ribs and took my wallet. I perceived that my life was at stake.
I agree that we need to address crime in Atlanta. I’m just saying this whole “crime wave” thing is baloney. Let’s start addressing crime by demanding stricter gun control in the state of GA. Everybody should contact their state legislature, state senator, and Gov. Perdue and voice your frustration at the State Capitol. Also, we should contact and our federal representatives and demand a ban on assault rifles in the US. It’s ridiculous that we still have laws that allow the purchase of these things. Next, we should demand for stricter sentences and rehabilitation in jails and prisons. No sense in sending someone to jail and letting them sit there for years without rehabilitation. As much as we like to blame our local reps, the REAL solution to crime is not more police or a better mayor and chief of police.
Oh yeah, I forgot that Atlanta has one of the highest poverty rates of major American cities - close to 30%. Therefore, we need to address the education system and other socio-economic factors that lead people to commit crimes for survival.
I am confused. Aren't the Atlanta Police currently experiencing a 10% furlough because the city doesn't have the money to pay them? Wouldn't the fact that 10% fewer cops are on patrol mean that fewer crimes are getting reported? Someone has to fill out all that paperwork.... It may be that the lack of a "crime wave" in the APD's statistics may have more to do with reductions in workforce capacity than with actual reductions in crime.
"As much as we like to blame our local reps, the REAL solution to crime is not more police or a better mayor and chief of police." Pardon my french but...WHO IN THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSE TO HOLD ACCOUNTABLE IF NOT THE POLICE CHIEF AND THE MAYOR?!?! That's like saying, "I know your car is still broken but don't blame the mechanic who was paid to fix it, blame society for not creating better mechanic schools where he could get better training." My freaking car doesn't run and I need to drive. You were hired to fix it. If you can't, maybe you shouldn't be a mechanic. And also, if you can't, I reserve the right to tell everyone how bad a mechanic you are.
We have a similar POC problem down here in the boonies in Albany. and Dekalb: gun control is one shot, one kill. Heck, even State Senator Freddie Powell Sims - not exactly the most conservative of people down here in this area - packs a gun because of her responsibilities in Atlanta. She is even a co-sponsor of SB 291, Senator Shafer's gun bill that was introduced on the last day of this past session. Yeah, EVERYBODY in the State knows about ATL's POC problem - and that's why we come armed, if at all...
I agree entirely, S. DeKalb Voter, I blame Atlanta's bullshit racial politics for giving us a this shitty mayor!
Tightening on stricter gun laws in the State of Georgia only restricts those who are legally getting the firearms, not the young adults shooting each other on the street. To get more gun laws is silly, and restricts the 2nd Amendment, by the way Constitutional Rights are protected whether you like it or not!!!! Secondly the crime had only gone down a little and this is large in part of two reasons. One, like someone said police are not around enough to take needless reports and more and more crimes go unreported, secondly crime had gone down a little because of the closing of the projects in downtown Atlanta, which is only a temporary scapegoat for re-election. These areas are only masked with brand new buildings and grounds that look great now but is just a mask. If you own a apartment building or other housing area a requirment by the City and the County is that you have to supplement 20% of your housing to section 8 to get any tax breaks or assistance through the city or the county. Just a mask your building new but putting the same shitty people back in there.
Who in the hell actually believes the criminals are getting their guns legally! Obviously S. Dekalb does. Why would a criminal go through the process of purchasing a gun legally, then turn around and commit an illegal crime with it. S. Dekalb voter, your mindless. And the problem here is, you vote.
One more thing S. Dekalb voter, Atlanta pays per student a $14,000-per-year tuition. This is far more than most suburban students tuitions are. Can you please tell me, at what point do we stop saying, it's education. We need more money. When you say it's education, then you do a great injustice to the Teachers ability to teach. Go ahead S. Dekalb voter, keep making excuses.
I know all of the people from Canton on this blog get a little uncomfortable in their Wranglers just thinking about losing their dicks err i mean guns, but if you tighten gun control it makes it harder to get illegal guns too. You then make the penalties for having a stolen or illegal gun astronomical. Sure, stabbings might go up but i think eventually we would see some improvement. I will never understand gun ownership. I live in a pretty rough area and i do not and will not own a gun. Let me try and understand the reasoning, in the extremely remote chance that you are held up at gun point you want to escalate the situation by blowing someone's head off. More than likely you would piss your pants and get your own head blown off when you fumble with your hand gun. The chances of any of this ever even happening are so small. Do you people have bomb shelters too??
No excuses here. Crime is a problem. I admit that. However, I believe the problem is systemic. The fact is crime is down under the Franklin Admin and we are still not satisfied, because it was too high from the start. I think we need more money to pay our cops, more cops, better leadership in the police dept AND stricter gun control in the United States. To say the criminals don’t buy guns legally is true. However, fewer guns on the street make it harder for them to buy them illegally. In addition, it would help if we had mandatory sentences for illegal guns, like they do in NY and other places. Get caught with an unregistered gun in NY and you do 2-4 mandatory years. I can’t believe you don’t think education is part of the equation. I’m not saying give the schools more money, but we have to figure out how to drastically lower the high school dropout rate in Atlanta.
Edgewood adam, I think i'm your neighbor. I guess I should go buy some wranglers so that I can fit your stereotype. thanks buddy! p.s. we should meet at Nonis for a beer. I'll be the guy with, hmm, wranglers i guess!
S. Dekalb- I don't have my papers handy to quote hard numbers (maybe a Googler can find them), but crime in Atlanta declined from '02-'05 and has been rising since '05. A line graph of crime under Franklin starts high, dips, then goes high again. Earlier this year Pennington claimed crime was at historic lows by comparing today to 1990 (the peak of the crack epidemic). Crime is always lower than it was at its peak. That's why it's called a peak.
Good to see I wasn't the only one that perceived all those crimes this week. Here I though I was alone.
According to the FBI numbers, crime is down under Franklin by 17%. Crime is also down this year, so she will probably leave office with a decrease in crime. That is a fact. But again, that's really not the point. Crime is still too high and we need more police, better leadership at the APD, tighter gun control, and stricter sentences for gun offenders to reduce it further.
The total number of reported crimes were 56,195 in 2001 and 46,381 in 2008. However, you're correct they went down from 2002-2005 and have risen slighty since. There was a big one year jump of 11% in 2007 I think.
According to the FBI numbers, crime is down. So please stop act like it's bad. So, remember, if you see a crime happening. It's really not. If it is, it's really not that bad. If it is bad, then act like it's not that bad. Come on people our reputation is on the line here. OK, on 3. 1,2,3, Perceived. Yayyyy. I knew really wasn't that bad. My perception has been so skewed lately.
11% in 2007. That's not that bad! That's only 5,102 more crimes then the previous year and those were probably just perceived. Hey, and if you take it even further it's only 14 more crimes a day. Shit, that's close to none. Also, it's the City, 141 crimes a day really isn't that bad. And I bet only one or two of those 141 crimes a day result in murder. So everyone just calm down. Relax, my numbers show that it is only perceived to be bad.
Franklin & Pennington are pathetic. Maybe someone should hit her in the head with a bat & knock some sense into her oblivious empty mind of hers... I'd like to see Pennington's high school diploma, his intelligence is on the level of a 3rd grader...
Don't even think about hitting herhonner over the head with a baseball bat - unless you want a broken bat.
I'm not sure I understand the point of this post. I didn't hear Shirley Franklin say that there was no crime in Atlanta. It seems you are more interested in tearing down strawmen instead of providing anything useful. I'd like to see some data on how much crime is up in Atlanta. It seems like it's up and with the economy in the tank I'd be surprised if it isn't but is it up significantly over the last few years? I can't find all the stats on the FBI website but it clearly shows that crime is up over the last couple of years but what's wrong with saying that it's still low as compared to it's peak? 2005 FBI reported 7,213 violent crimes and 31,397 Property Crimes In 2006 FBI reported 7,548 and 32,231 Property Crimes
Don't drink the Spinnington-Franklin Kool-Aid where crime stats are concerned, folks. From an AJC article in February: The newspaper obtained statistics on seven major crimes committed in six Atlanta police “beats” that comprise the following communities: Grant Park, East Atlanta, Virginia-Highland/Atkins Park, Inman Park/Poncey-Highland/Little Five Points, and Edgewood/Kirkwood/East Lake. Violent crime dropped in half of the beats since 2006. In the three others, only one beat that includes East Lake and part of Kirkwood showed a noticeable jump this year, of 53 percent. The increases stemmed largely from robberies, which rose in four beats and made a 71 percent jumpfrom 2007 to 2008 in the East Lake/Kirkwood area. Property crimes, on the other hand, have increased in all six beats since 2006 and, in some neighborhoods, accounted for a crime wave. Atlanta police point to the explosion of two crimes; burglars kicking in doors to get to flat-screen televisions and thieves swiping GPS units from cars. East Atlanta has been hit the hardest. Since 2006, home burglaries ballooned by 147 percent. Other thefts, classified as larcenies, jumped by 87 percent.
PS - South DeKalb Voter sounds like someone from the APD public affairs office... We're not buying it! We know the people that Perception of Crime is burglarizing... they're our neighbors, our bars and our restaurants. We're not making this up. In OUR part of the city, we have a crime wave. Shirley and Dick need to quit denying it and DO something ABOUT it.
That's pretty funny. I've been accused of being on the mayor's pr payroll, but not the APD. I'm from the old school, and like Ice Cube, I don't fuck with the police. You couldn't survive in my neighborhood growing up being friends with the Po-Po. I've lived intown for decades and don't feel the presence of a "crime wave". But then again, I do watch my surroundings, close my blinds, and don't leave TV boxes by the side of the curb. Here's a suggestion for people living intown - get rid of the flat screen TV's. As nice as they look, they're the best thing to happen to petty criminals since crack.
"Violent crimes also appear to be down with the exception of rape." So, since I am a dude, I am more safe?
S Dekalb Voter - tighter gun control has worked so well in other places, like DC, it is obviously the solution. Criminals can get tractor trailer loads of coke into Atlanta, what would stop them from bringing in AK's and Uzi's? Edgewood Adam - your ignorance of gun owners is astounding. Just ask Andisheh. Oh and YES, I desperately want to "escalate" the situation by shooting him before he shoots me or my wife. Duh. You say "escalate", I say "solve".
S Dekalb Voter says - "Here’s a suggestion for people living intown - get rid of the flat screen TV’s." I like that solution, kind of like the Governor of Arizona once suggesting that , if a rape is inevitable, just "lay back and enjoy it".
S. Dekalb Voter, I'm a 30 yr old white male that went to Grady. Odd I know, but good decision making actually worked out for me. Quit a concept. I do suggest it. Born and raised here. You're a idiot. Keep giving excuses, we all see right through it.
Once again, Franlin is incorrect... It is not the perception of crime for those of us that have been victims... Since Franlkin has taken office Atlanta has gone down the drain. Crime is off the chain and that is not a perception.. Speaking from someone that has been broken into 3 times and had an automobile almost stolen, thank goodness for my car alarm... get your head out of the clouds and see the clear reality. Franklin as a public servent has done nothing to secure the people of Atlanta's safety.... The dream is over! it is time to wake up.
It just infuriates me to no end that our dear mayor and police chief sit there quoting statistics and making excuses while the citizens of this city live in terror in their own homes. This is entirely UNACCEPTABLE. And this crap about raising taxes to end the furloughs and hire more police is BS. You shouldn't need to raise taxes to hire police. Public safety should be priority #1 for a municipal government. Change that stupid pension plan that you and council created that is consuming 1/5 of the city budget!!!!! I didn't want to believe it but Mayor Franklin has turned into as big of a failure as her predecessor.
yall are insane. 2 of your neighbors getting robbed IS better than 3. I hope that you people dont think that crime can ever be eliminated. at least its goin down instead of up. But on the other hand... There is not a crime wave, just crime. not a perception of crime, REAL crime. APD needs to step it up.
Perception, my a**! Have you ever walked around 10th and Piedmont now that the City has pushed the panhandling crowd out of downtown?
"Perception of Crime." What kind of crap is this. Such a brainless, political way of looking at reality! "Crap" is all I've got in response.
When you have groups of gun toting thugs robbing several businesses in one night with NOTHING done by the police force, the city council president is REPEATEDLY robbed just like many others that is a crime wave. This kind of thing is not happening in other cities with COMPETENT leadership. The only thing Pennington does is form a task force. I'm sure the thugs are trembling in fear.
great stuff. please keep the heat on Franklin and Pennington. The Verizon store ACROSS from police HQ was broken into last week as well. I have lived my whole life in Atlanta and have loved it, but this crime is putting a serious dent into the fun of the city.
Coming from Brooklyn, NY I was surprised at the crime that was committed and overlooked in Atlanta. I had to break my lease and find a new apt because of dealers and druggies and prowling whores. I don't think crime should be anymore acceptable in a city than it is in small towns and suburbs. However, if i absolutely had to choose to risk losing a big screen tv in Atlanta and staying here in San Diego where I can meet a grisly end by our assorted gangs and cartel wars, Atlanta sure is looking mighty safe.
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