The crime reports for East Atlanta have been posted through May 24th at 7:00 a.m.
In the first four months of 2019, two of our three significant measures of crime dropped as compared to the same time period in 2018. Unfortunately, vehicle thefts rose from eight to fourteen. This is the lone public safety blemish that the East Atlanta community has recorded in a while. It’s a little disappointing since all three significant measures of crime dropped 25% or more in 2018 as compared to 2017, including vehicle theft. On the positive side, the volume of vehicle thefts has been back to normal in April and May, so it’s still possible that this measure will be at normal levels or below by the end of the year.
Burglaries continue their downward trend in 2019. East Atlanta residents have reported eight residential burglaries through April compared twenty-two in the first four months of 2018. And pedestrian robberies have declined in the same four month period from seven in 2018 to three in 2019.
Now that 2018 is behind us, let’s look at the year in crime and assess where things stand as we head into 2019. The news in East Atlanta in 2018 was very positive, but there is still plenty of room for improvement. As a reminder, The EASP does not spend a lot of time evaluating vehicle break-ins and thefts, as the data is extremely unreliable. Many people do not report these crimes at all, or five vehicle break-ins may be part of single report. Anecdotally, it seems that package thefts are a growing problem, especially with packages delivered to so many households and generally being easy to steal. The EASP tries to increase patrols if an area is having a problem with thefts, but generally we don’t measure the success of the patrol based on a decline in reports of items stolen from your yard or front porch.
With respect to more serious crimes, pedestrian robberies were down from 23 in 2017 to 16 in 2018. About 75% of those were in or around the Village. While this was a 30% decrease, the volume of pedestrians in the Village continues to grow, such that the improvement looks that much better.
Vehicle thefts continue to drop, probably as a result of better security systems in many newer models. These crimes dropped from 37 in 2017 to 28 in 2018. This turned out to be a slightly less than 25% decrease. The decrease was much larger until the final month of 2018, which proved to be the worst month of the year for car thefts, when five were reported.
Burglaries showed the largest declines in 2018, dropping from 73 to 43, a 41% decrease. There may be a few explanations for this. First, increasing use of cameras is somewhat of a deterrent, and also helped to apprehend perpetrators before they could successfully repeat this crime in our area. Second, technology is helping to identify stolen vehicles more quickly, which enabled EASP and on-duty APD officers to stop vehicles and make arrests before crimes could be committed. Third, some parts of Atlanta are experiencing increases in burglaries, so reductions in this type of crime in East Atlanta and in other parts of Zone 6 may reflect that other areas of the city are easier places for perpetrators to be successful. They may not have the same levels of improved technology East Atlanta has, and therefore it makes sense that criminals are committing crimes in other places where they are less likely to be caught.
Finally, the decrease in major crimes was achieved in spite of an increase in the number of residences in East Atlanta. Approximately 100 new residences were added as a result of annexations, and did contribute a couple more crimes. For example, burglaries would have been down almost 44% if you do not include the new residences. It does not appear that pedestrian robberies or auto thefts occurred in the new portions of the community.
For 2019, The EASP will face a challenge to maintain the same level of hours and to make further progress in reducing crime. Alternative funding sources may need to be explored, as the increase in pay for Atlanta officers makes the wages paid by the EASP less attractive. An officer would rather work overtime for the city than work for the EASP. This will necessitate the EASP paying higher wages in order to keep our officers. Unfortunately, APD is still vastly understaffed, and it will take a long time before they can recruit enough officers that overtime won’t be readily available as an alternative to working neighborhood security patrols.
Please remember that anyone can call the EASP at 404-954-1568 to report suspicious activity or a crime. You are not required to be a member to call! Since we don't always have an officer on duty, we recommend that you call 911 first, then give the EASP a call. Even though our officers monitor calls dispatched via 911, not all calls are dispatched in a timely manner, so making the second call to the EASP after calling 911 often leads to a quicker police response time.
If you would like a free estimate of options to upgrade security at your home, we recommend the Entry Enforcer, 404-289-6960. They'll come out for about an hour to discuss different options for making your home more difficult to enter. They have solutions for often overlooked entry points like windows and french doors, not just the main entry doors to your home. There is no financial arrangement between the Entry Enforcer and the EASP.
In the first four months of 2019, two of our three significant measures of crime dropped as compared to the same time period in 2018. Unfortunately, vehicle thefts rose from eight to fourteen. This is the lone public safety blemish that the East Atlanta community has recorded in a while. It’s a little disappointing since all three significant measures of crime dropped 25% or more in 2018 as compared to 2017, including vehicle theft. On the positive side, the volume of vehicle thefts has been back to normal in April and May, so it’s still possible that this measure will be at normal levels or below by the end of the year.
Burglaries continue their downward trend in 2019. East Atlanta residents have reported eight residential burglaries through April compared twenty-two in the first four months of 2018. And pedestrian robberies have declined in the same four month period from seven in 2018 to three in 2019.
Now that 2018 is behind us, let’s look at the year in crime and assess where things stand as we head into 2019. The news in East Atlanta in 2018 was very positive, but there is still plenty of room for improvement. As a reminder, The EASP does not spend a lot of time evaluating vehicle break-ins and thefts, as the data is extremely unreliable. Many people do not report these crimes at all, or five vehicle break-ins may be part of single report. Anecdotally, it seems that package thefts are a growing problem, especially with packages delivered to so many households and generally being easy to steal. The EASP tries to increase patrols if an area is having a problem with thefts, but generally we don’t measure the success of the patrol based on a decline in reports of items stolen from your yard or front porch.
With respect to more serious crimes, pedestrian robberies were down from 23 in 2017 to 16 in 2018. About 75% of those were in or around the Village. While this was a 30% decrease, the volume of pedestrians in the Village continues to grow, such that the improvement looks that much better.
Vehicle thefts continue to drop, probably as a result of better security systems in many newer models. These crimes dropped from 37 in 2017 to 28 in 2018. This turned out to be a slightly less than 25% decrease. The decrease was much larger until the final month of 2018, which proved to be the worst month of the year for car thefts, when five were reported.
Burglaries showed the largest declines in 2018, dropping from 73 to 43, a 41% decrease. There may be a few explanations for this. First, increasing use of cameras is somewhat of a deterrent, and also helped to apprehend perpetrators before they could successfully repeat this crime in our area. Second, technology is helping to identify stolen vehicles more quickly, which enabled EASP and on-duty APD officers to stop vehicles and make arrests before crimes could be committed. Third, some parts of Atlanta are experiencing increases in burglaries, so reductions in this type of crime in East Atlanta and in other parts of Zone 6 may reflect that other areas of the city are easier places for perpetrators to be successful. They may not have the same levels of improved technology East Atlanta has, and therefore it makes sense that criminals are committing crimes in other places where they are less likely to be caught.
Finally, the decrease in major crimes was achieved in spite of an increase in the number of residences in East Atlanta. Approximately 100 new residences were added as a result of annexations, and did contribute a couple more crimes. For example, burglaries would have been down almost 44% if you do not include the new residences. It does not appear that pedestrian robberies or auto thefts occurred in the new portions of the community.
For 2019, The EASP will face a challenge to maintain the same level of hours and to make further progress in reducing crime. Alternative funding sources may need to be explored, as the increase in pay for Atlanta officers makes the wages paid by the EASP less attractive. An officer would rather work overtime for the city than work for the EASP. This will necessitate the EASP paying higher wages in order to keep our officers. Unfortunately, APD is still vastly understaffed, and it will take a long time before they can recruit enough officers that overtime won’t be readily available as an alternative to working neighborhood security patrols.
Please remember that anyone can call the EASP at 404-954-1568 to report suspicious activity or a crime. You are not required to be a member to call! Since we don't always have an officer on duty, we recommend that you call 911 first, then give the EASP a call. Even though our officers monitor calls dispatched via 911, not all calls are dispatched in a timely manner, so making the second call to the EASP after calling 911 often leads to a quicker police response time.
If you would like a free estimate of options to upgrade security at your home, we recommend the Entry Enforcer, 404-289-6960. They'll come out for about an hour to discuss different options for making your home more difficult to enter. They have solutions for often overlooked entry points like windows and french doors, not just the main entry doors to your home. There is no financial arrangement between the Entry Enforcer and the EASP.