Zone 2 crime down 5% so far in ‘13; but up 8% in ‘12

Atlanta Police Department’s Zone 2 Commander Maj. Van Hobbs reported to the Buckhead Council of Neighborhoods Thursday night that crime in Zone 2 for the beginning of 2013 so far is tracking 5 percent below the same period for last year.

However, 2012 ended with crime up 8 percent from the previous year in Zone 2, which includes Buckhead.

Maj. Van Hobbs

Hobbs said the major culprit for the 2012 Zone 2 statistics was larcenies from autos, followed by burglaries and aggravated assaults. He also said most of the aggravated assaults involved people who knew each other.

Meanwhile, the APD downtown released a report on major crime in Atlanta during 2012 and said the city had the second fewest homicides in 50 years in 2012 with 85 homicides. Only 2009, with 80 homicides was lower than last year, dating back to 1963.There were 88 homicides in 2011.

According to the APD report, other violent crimes also decreased last year, with rape down 24 percent aggravated assault down 2 percent and robbery down 1 percent. Thefts from autos did increase by 2 percent across the whole city.

Hobbs said larcenies from autos are not just a Zone 2 problem. It is citywide and also a problem in other nearby states. He said the APD has now started tracking percentages of car larcenies since Jan. 1 on a week-by-week basis. 

“On the first week, we were down 31 percent” in car larcenies compared to 2012 he said of the month of January. “We’re trending in the right direction.” 

He said the majority of victims of car thefts are visitors to Zone 2 from other parts of Atlanta or out of town and out of state. He said he suggested to the chief that a more aggressive public information campaign needs to be implemented. He suggested possibly creating a statewide “Remove it or Lose it” campaign, patterned after the “Click it or Ticket” statewide campaign.  

By way of example, Hobbs said that of the 30 Zone 2 cases of larcenies from autos last week, 21 of the victims were not local and only nine lived in Buckhead.

Hobbs told the council members, “You will see a lot more blue lights” on the major thoroughfares in Buckhead, especially Piedmont and Peachtree roads, and increased check points for issues like drunk driving.

“We’re trying to saturate the area and let people know, if you want to come up here and have a good time, fine; but don’t come up here and mess around,” Hobbs said. He said everyone that is stopped will not necessarily get a ticket, but they will know the police are serious about breaking the law in Zone 2.

Yolanda Adrean

Hobbs also reported that in December 911 calls increased 9 percent over the previous December, but response times decreased by 2 percent. Overall in 2012, he said Zone 2 911 calls were up 16 percent over the previous year.

Dist. 8 City Council member Yolanda Adrean asked Dobbs how the addition of the new territory to Zone 2 last year (Cheshire Bridge area down to Morningside) figured into any increases in crime statistics for Zone 2. Hobbs said he did not know, because he did not believe that had been broken out of the Zone 2 statistics that way.

Also during Thursday night’s meeting at Peachtree Presbyterian Church, Zone 2 Community Prosecutor Tiffany Harlow reported that the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office had a 92 percent conviction rate on cases taken to trial in 2012. She said there were a total of 267 trials and 231 resulted in convictions.

Tiffany Harlow

Harlow told the BCN members that the DA’s office is placing a new emphasis in 2013 on domestic violence cases.

Asked about progress on the case involving theft of money from the E. Rivers PTA accounts by former president Marie Arjomand, she simply said work is proceeding on the case, but did not elaborate on how close it may be to some sort of resolution—charges and a trial or dropping the case.

She did tell BuckheadView that she got a phone call from one of the E. Rivers parents who discovered the theft of funds during Thursday night’s BCN meeting, presumably to check on the status of the case, which is now a year old.