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Smart fighting – Crime decline in Atlanta, Kirkwood

Kirkwood and East Lake Metro ATL

Smart fighting – Crime decline in Atlanta, Kirkwood

A chart contained in a report recently released by the Atlanta Police Foundation.
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A chart contained in a report recently released by the Atlanta Police Foundation.

A chart contained in a report recently released by the Atlanta Police Foundation.

Crime grabs headlines, but that doesn’t always mean crime is on the rise.

In Atlanta, crime continues to decline at a pace that’s faster than the national average, according to a recent report produced by the Atlanta Police Foundation.

The report on 2013 crime statistics found that crimes reported in Atlanta have dropped by 33 percent since 2002. Nationally, crime dropped by 14 percent over that same period.

Maj. Timothy Peek, commander of Atlanta Police Zone 6, says that it’s a trend he’s noticing his officers patrol streets in Kirkwood and the surrounding neighborhoods.

“I will certainly agree that overall crime has taken a significant decrease when you compare to the history of what we’ve been dealing with for the last decade or so,” Peek said. “We’re certainly at a lower crime rate than we’ve ever been.”

Peek said in Zone 6, crime is down 38 percent since 2009 and currently 23 percent lower than 2013 crime rates.

“We have started out 2014 on an outstanding level thus far,” Peek said. “It doesn’t mean that there isn’t any crime in Zone 6 but we are significantly lower on the robberies. Right now we’ve had a decrease in every crime category, period.”

The Police Foundation report found that there were 12 violent crimes per 100,000 residents in 2013. Aggravated assaults accounted for 53.7 percent of those crimes. Robberies accounted for 42.8 percent the report says.

“We’re thinking a little smarter in how we fight crime,” Peek said. “We brought in technology. You have the video integration center with cameras in specific areas. We do have some areas in Zone 6 that feed into the video integration center and also we’re interacting better with the community, getting them more involved so they can be our eyes and ears.”

To see the Police Foundation report, click this link: Atlanta Police Foundation 2013 report

Here are additional charts contained in the report:

CrimeDrop2

CrimeDrop3

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