(ATLANTA) -- Larceny is a popular topic for public safety and legal administration officials.
OpGov.ai captured the Public Safety and Legal Administration meeting accurately, which shows theft on the rise.
"The Atlanta Police Department's report revealed a troubling 20% increase in robberies and other larcenies, signaling ongoing public safety concerns,” the OpGov.ai platform reported.
An increase in robberies is significant, especially with the holiday season around the corner. Residents have a right to know about crimes taking place in their community.
The Atlanta Police Department (APD) provided an update on robberies in the city at the Nov. 10 meeting.
Deputy Chief Kelley Collier explaining larceny rise (Photo: Atlanta City Council YouTube)
“For the 28 day and 8% for the 7 day,” Atlanta Police Department Deputy Chief Kelley Collier said. “Diving a little deeper into our 7-day we’re up in robberies, 12 compared to 10."
Half of those robberies the suspects and victims knew each other, the deputy chief added.
Specific cases involving robberies were mentioned, highlighting the issue with various incidents documented and shared during the meeting.
“Someone was robbed when they tried to buy a gun out in Allen Temple” Collier said. “Someone else was robbed when they tried to buy marijuana.”
The APD received some support from Chris Brown, who represents the Atlanta Citizen Review Board (ACRB).
Chris Brown speaks at the Public Safety and Legal Administration meeting (Photo: Atlanta City Council YouTube)
“We’ve been able to basically attend a lot of training and educational forums and discussions with APD, including use of force,” Brown said. “We took a trip to the training facility to just be able to look at how recruits go from recruit to police officer.”
Brown’s comment shows that not everyone is against the police department.
Standard robberies weren’t the only type of theft described by the Atlanta Police Department. Other larcenies include porch pirate thefts. Porch pirate thefts, also known as porch piracy, are the crime of stealing delivered packages from a residential or business property before the recipient can retrieve them.
The porch thefts are common around the holiday season, according to the APD. Fortunately, APD is staying proactive to prevent these types of crimes.
“What we do is get information out through our social media avenues and our crime prevention inspectors about having packages delivered to a trusted friend or relative,” Collier said.
Despite the uptick in crimes, some criminals were arrested in a Deepfreeze, an ongoing APD initiative that targets criminal street gang activity and aims to prevent violent crime during winter months.
Under the operation, the APD was able to arrest several convicted felons and gang members.
After the chief spoke a presentation on DUI cases was shown by Kenneth Days, chief public defender and director for the City of Atlanta.
Kenneth Day speaks at the Public Safety and Legal Administration Meeting (Photo: Atlanta City Council YouTube)
The presentation illustrated open and closed cases from January to November of the current year. According to the presentation, there are currently 5017 public defender-appointed cases, 450 DUI cases, and 654 closed cases.
Days doesn’t believe the cases will stand still as time progresses.
“We are projecting the amount of public defender cases will double by next year due to economic factors,” Days said. “We tend to see an increase in case load as the economy sort of contracts and job market goes bad."
Day added "our client appointments tend to increase substantially.”
Driving under the influence (DUI) cases were discussed in detail. The average cycle of DUI cases is approximately six months, according to Days. Additionally, the case load is significant for public defenders.
“We average upwards of a thousand active cases at any given time,” Days said. “I think right now we’re at about 800 DUI cases.”
OpGov.ai takes crime seriously and aims to report accurate information. OpGov.ai will continue to monitor robberies and DUI’s as holiday season approaches.
No one should have to deal with the unfortunate circumstance of being robbed or injured by an intoxicated driver. If you have any comments, questions, or concerns, feel free to contact jorden.h@Lead4earth.org.
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