The city of Atlanta is safer, according to new stats shared by Mayor Andre Dickens and Atlanta Police Chief Darren Schierbaum. During a press conference at Salem Baptist Church on the west side of Atlanta, Dickens and Schierbaum provided insight on the crime reduction over the year.
The data revealed that violent crime was down 18 percent, aggravated assaults were down 16 percent, homicides were down 22 percent, and rapes were down by 49 percent.
Overall, crime is down 15 percent.
“We ended the year with citywide major crimes against people put down more than 15%, and that includes homicides more than 20%,” Dickens shared.
The city has made it a point to use more technology to help with the reduction of crime as 37,000 cameras are located around the city. There have also been an increase in youth-focused initiatives such as midnight sports to keep teens off the streets. Also, over 5,000 youth were employed by the city for the Summer Youth Employment program.
“‘You left your house every day, you parked in a parking garage, you went into a restaurant, you sat down and ate, you took a stroll to the ice cream parlor and you didn’t have any crime, but you talked about it on the way,” Dickens said. “I think you now need to talk about all those walks where you felt safe.”
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