A reader requested that I correct something on her post and, unfortunately, the only way I can do that is to delete and re-post it, so here it is:

BRAVO STEPHANIE! I moved back to my beloved Atlanta approx 8 months ago after not having lived here in 12 years and was both thrilled and shocked! What has happenned to my precious Atlanta? I lived and played hard here for most of the 80's thru the 90's and was part of the original "thinkers and doers" who were of the great Andy and Maynard era- and I must say that upon my return I truly noticed that this woman was completely "burnt-out' "spent"! Unfortunately, Atlanta is the benificiary of having someone who is no longer up to getting the job done. I don't know if she ever was; according to my friends it is debatable- but moving forward-I think Atlanta deserves a Mayor that, at the very least, we can be proud of and respect- ot someone who has to fake even the simple act of a smile!( and a fake flower doesn't get-it either) Keep-up the good work Stephanie...

--onegr8singer

Of course there's no crime increase in Atlanta. Why everywhere Shirley Franklin goes, crime is down , to zero. There has never been one instance of crime at any event Mayor Franklin has attended. And no crime on her street either.
Of course, Mayor Franklin has 4 or more officers at any given moment surrounding her, a driver and however many underlings, peons and hanger ons at any given moment.
Hey Mr. Edwards, Chief Pennington and Mayor Franklin...you talk about perception-you 3 are certainly giving a perception of being out of touch, aloof and uncaring. Not mention incompetent.
Those of us living without a 24 hour security force, the reality is crime is happening at an ever increasing rate. All the stats, all the pomposity of the mayor, her minions and the ilk won't change that. Only a leader with courage,vision and willingness to face trouble head on will change Atlanta for the better.
And Ms. Mayor-that ain't you.

Atlanta is no more dangerous than any other major city and less than even some minor cities such as New Orleans and Baton Rouge where there is a murder or arson almost every night and where people will take pot shots and someone just riding down the street.

I think there is a great perception of crime because the community organizations in the gentrified neighborhoods are so afraid of anyone who is poor, mentally ill, hispanic, or not middle class. Instead of reaching out and helping those who are less able IN THEIR OWN COMMUNITY they run them off by calling Code Enforcement on them, trying to make the convenience stores quit selling inexpensive wine and only sell what poor people can't afford, and running off the personal care homes. They don't seem to realize that diversity creates safety. Get rid of the classism. It has superceded racism as the lates form of segregation.

The people who worry so much about crime, especially the predominant property crime should go over to the SPCA and get a dog, an active, barky dog, maybe one with some terrier in him. The real scared folks could even get a neutered pit bull. (They are sweet if you treat them well.) Fence your yard whether Code Enforcement wants you to or not,all the way around. (If everyone on a block does it they won't be able to do anything.) Install a doggie door that he can use 24/7 and never tie him up. Ensure that no ordinances against barking dogs can be passed or enforced. Your home will be safe.

Meanwhile, Georgia needs to be taken BACK by the Democrats. Shirley would make a good governor. Support her. Atlanta was once a shining beacon of good sense in an otherwise moderately conservative state. Then a nationally known religious hate group snuck into the metro area and messed things up. Fundamentalists are both racist and classist by nature. It is time to extend that liberality to the whole state so that the embarrassment of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana can be lessened and national candidates assume the Deep South will vote Republican and ignore it. That was real embarrassing int he last presidential election.

I don't know what is with the continuing accusations of a numbers game. I have become a frequent user of the APD's crime mapping page.

I cannot attest to whether or not everything that occurs gets reported or not, but incidents that I hear about (through newsgroups, blogs, word-of-mouth) all DO seem to appear on this crime map which makes me believe that there is some accuracy to this and that numbers are not just being made up.

I just happened to visit the site earlier today and did some year-over-year comparisons:

From 1 - 14 March

Citywide:
Total incidents in 2008: 1395
Total incidents in 2009: 1134
That's a decrease folks.

Homicides from 7 in '08 to 1 in '09
Robberies from 116 in '08 to 68 in '09

In zone 6, where I live
crime is up
Total incidents in 2008: 169
Total incidents in 2009: 180
Larcenies and auto thefts lead the way.
Robberies, however, are down.

I have reason to believe the numbers because, like I said, anytime I have heard about a burglary, robbery, etc... it does appear in the crime map. If these incidents never appeared, then I would have great, great concerns.

I truly do think that everyone is on edge and any incident or any strange character gets everyone going...I know it has been for me lately. But if I stop and think, how much worse it is really?

I think I can speak from experience having lived in my neighborhood for 7 years and in the city proper for 16 years.

The problem with there not being enough police officers to file reports for all crimes, essentially that the police cannot be everywhere, is not something that only can or does happen in Atlanta. Essentially, what you are saying is so much more crime happens than is reported...well, that can apply to any jurisdiction, particularly large ones. So how do we compare any city to any other cities. If you are saying that Atlanta's numbers are bogus because of that, who's to say Chicago's numbers aren't flawed as well...or Los Angeles or Miami, etc... And how do you accurately portray the real statistics if people don't call?


Assuming that all of the reports were filed and done so honestly, yes, my comparisons were for one two week period for citywide and Zone 6 crimes. You could sit there and do comparisons all day long by zone, and using the map, count off crimes by individual neighborhoods or beats. Who knows what that would conclude since I don't have the time to do such task. It would probably result in both good weeks and bad weeks for numerous neighborhoods.

I don't think the city is "shifting" statistics around. If you want a thorough, accurate comparison, one would have to do what I suggested in the last paragraph - essentially end up with an enormous spreadsheet that breaks down all crimes by citywide, zone, beat/neighborhood.

Like you mentioned, it would be great to live in a city where everyone felt safe in every neighborhood. I don't mean to be flip, but when you find such a city, let me know, because in 35 years, I have yet to find one.

And, if people don't report crime, what can you do? That is why we, in our neighborhood, inundate 911 if we see something suspicious or an actual criminal activity - to make certain it gets a response and a report.

I hate to say it but there will always be crime, and there will always be crime in the city.
I am sorry for those that have been affected firsthand. Maybe I am fortunate that (knock on wood) I do not know anyone that has been a victim of any robberies, carjackings, etc. in recent times - this includes people that stretch from Virginia-Highland to Grant Park to NW Atlanta. We had a couple of attempted break-ins on our street last fall. So far, that was the extent of our crime wave in my immediate surroundings. I could argue that I saw more crime on my street when I moved in back in 2002.

Ultimately, I think we want the same thing. A mayor who is serious about this issue - not some lame duck counting the days, and maybe more importantly, a REAL police chief. I pray that whoever becomes mayor that they get rid of Pennington fast.

Ultimately though, I feel that you have one side (City) that feels everything is just fine and another that feels everything has spiraled into mass chaos. I feel that the real situation is somewhere in the middle.

Keith,

Sheesh, I attempted to fix "beleaguered" by deleting and reposting (having deleted the correction post bc it kind of bumps up the comment count and that's not really fair), and I--doh!--ended up here. Also, while I'm at it, I'm going to put that violent crime # at over 100 bc although my list indicates considerably more than 100, I think there may be duplicates, so to be safe, "well over 100."

And I agree about wanting the same thing. I don't think the city is spiraling into mass chaos, but summer is when crime tends to peak in Atlanta (as in most cities) and if what we've seen over the winter is something less than the summer will show us, we need to get more cops on the street asap.

SO, for those just joining the conversation, this is the post to which Keith (above) is responding. So, read this (below) first and then read Keith (above). So sorry, Keith. - Best, Steph

Keith,

Your post is a vivid illustration of how numbers can be selectively used to make a point.

Ever wonder why some countries officially have very little crime, but when you go there you're told not to ever, EVER show your wallet? No police= no crime. See how that works?

Crime stats are only as authentic as the reports behind them.

A city can experience a drop in crime simply through a paper shredder, or better yet, by those reports never being filled out. So, although you can show us on paper that crime is down, I'm not buying it. You've live in Atlanta for 16 years. I've been reporting on the APD since 1995 and I am more aware than most of how the city can manage crime with an eraser.

Remember when Atlanta was trying to land the Olympics and the AJC ran that proud headline saying Las Vegas was the crime capital of America and everyone was so relieved it wasn't Atlanta? Well, I was the reporter who re-crunched those numbers with some help from the FBI and said it couldn't possibly be Vegas.

So, in future, if you want to point to some numbers and say "Look, crime is down," it's a good idea to know how those numbers came into being in the first place. I, for one, have my doubts as to their authenticity.

However, if you truly believe all the reports were filed and filed honestly, then please consider this:

You just posted stats for two weeks in March 2008 and March 2009. That's March 1-14, right? Two weeks. You're not referring to particular zones, but to stats that are citywide, so I don't know if one neighborhood fared better or worse from one year to the next. I don't know what happened that summer or if things had been better in February before taking a turn for the worse.

Public safety is very much a comparative context. For example, let's just say the West End had no murders in 2008 for that period (that would assume that the 7 happened somewhere else), but then, in 2009, they have one murder during that period. Well, if you're looking at the whole city, it might look to you like 2009 is a better, safer year--after all there was only that one murder in the whole city--but if you happen to live in the West End, you might think things have gotten considerably worse. Keep in mind, people don't live all over a city, they live in their own neighborhoods--just like you do. Good policing isn't about shifting stats around a whole town, it's about neighborhood policing and how safe YOU feel where YOU live (and apparently in your case, you feel pretty safe). I'd love to be in a city where people felt safe in every neighborhood. I'd love to be in a city where there were no neighborhoods where the residents had simply given up on calling the police about the crack house next door (thereby sending their neighborhood's crime rate down--remember the stats reflect REPORTED crime).

The vast majority of crime is never reported at all and when there are too few police officers, there are even fewer reports.

We can slice and dice the stats all day. I love numbers and I am a data enthusiast. Check this out: Between Oct. 1, 2008 and Jan. 31, 2009, there were well over 100 violent crimes committed by three or more perpetrators within the city of Atlanta. Hmmm, three or more thugs beating up and robbing people. What does that sound like to you? And how many is that per day? Oh, and those are real stats by the way--those were compiled by yours truly based on real reports that I held in my own little hands.

What concerns me are the facts on the ground--the actual reports--not the best set of numbers to put a smiley face on a beleagered city.

And, like you, I love the crime maps--I'd just like to be sure they reflect the actual number of crimes. For me, there are far too many people getting in touch with me to tell me about being robbed and mugged for me to think everything's okay.

--Very best, Stephanie Ramage

This is the way a public officer responds to the media? That's amazing. These people are extremely unused to feeling as if they are working for the public.

Regarding crime reports -- Keith, I have tracked incidents in my old neighborhood that never showed up on the crime map.

And then there are the courts, which are in a state of crisis so frightening that they will not allow public scrutiny. A lot of this secrecy can be traced back to covering-up for older administrations -- the rest, presumptions of superiority to the people they serve.

You see, taxpayers have already spent the money to improve public information systems -- and it disappeared. So now that we're demanding these services, and some real accountability, Franklin has a great deal to hide. She never was a reformer. She and her family have been raking in cash from set-aside airport contracts for years -- along with her former boss' family. Nice work if you can get it. With behavior like this, how could anybody believe she is cleaning ship? Maybe Atlanta is finally ready to move beyond such politically connected cabals. If and when that happens, the real accounting can begin -- and this is precisely why there is silence from City Hall, even on issues begging for leadership, like crime.

Franklin does deserve praise for one initiative, though: she has been very courageous in discussing sexual exploitation of children in Atlanta. Credit where credit is due.