Atlanta’s rising crime problem brings threats of state intervention by Georgia lawmakers (Roswell: homes, unemployment)

[Gulch]

Originally Posted by BobbyJayATL

Eh - it was always that bad (that particular area of downtown, right around the Capitol.)

It got much much worse in the past year. Even if it had remained the same, there is zero excuse.

[bryantm3]

I think the problems we're having in the US go a lot deeper than "not enough cops". And people are too quick to point fingers at each other instead of cooperating to find solutions.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by arjay57

What in the heck is the state of Georgia going to do if they take over the ATL? Post state troopers and the National Guard at all the nightclubs and malls?

Originally Posted by arjay57

What in the heck is the state of Georgia going to do if they take over the ATL? Post state troopers and the National Guard at all the nightclubs and malls?

That is an excellent question.

It appears that what is being proposed at this point are some extra GSP (Georgia State Patrol) patrols in the City of Atlanta to supplement APD (Atlanta Police Department) patrols.

It’s my guess that the extra GSP patrols that are being proposed likely largely would happen along state-owned surface routes that run through the CoA proper.

... State-owned surface routes like Peachtree Road through Buckhead (GA-9, US-19, GA-141), Piedmont Road through Buckhead (GA-237), Roswell Road in Buckhead (GA-9/US-19), Northside Drive (US-41/GA-3), Hollowell Parkway/Ponce De Leon Avenue (US-78/US-278), etc.

GSP units likely also would assist APD in special operations against illegal street racing groups and in crackdowns on regular traffic violations, particularly along and/or near state-owned surface routes.

Part of that increased presence of GSP units in the City of Atlanta proper likely would involve staging state patrol cars along stretches of road near the busiest nightclubs and in and around high-profile sites like Lenox Square Mall, which is a major hub for visitors and tourists that sits near the intersection of 3 state-owned routes (GA-141 Peachtree Road, GA-141C Lenox Road, and the GA-400 freeway).

Though one major challenge for the state probably would be that they would have to spend money to hire and train (and better pay) more Georgia State Patrol officers, which is something that the state has not always been the most willing and/or eager to do in the past.

[Born 2 Roll]

Originally Posted by Yoski

FBI statistics showed major jumps in crime in rural areas along with towns as well as in the major cities.

This is just political posturing with no real desire to understand the an issue that plagued the nation in the midst of a major pandemic. Instead of studying the issues for solutions and historical context, some will simply use it to demonize political opposition or 'others'.

These are some really good points.

Though I do think that there may be a good degree of seriousness to this proposal for the state to exercise some type of intervention in the city’s crime problems (largely because the City of Atlanta is so critically important to the state’s economic recruiting efforts), some of this is also typical political posturing against Atlanta by state government political leaders like Georgia House Speaker David Ralston, Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan, Governor Brian Kemp, etc., who all are looking to bruising re-election campaigns next year, with what are likely to be brutal primary challenges from their party’s hard right flank and very tough and increasingly intense challenges from their left in the general election.

Georgia politicians have been campaigning against Atlanta since the city became the site of state capitol back in 1868. But the City of Atlanta’s worsening crime problems circa 2020-2021 give Georgia state politicians a big fat juicy campaign target to aim at and a very convenient foil to use heading into what is expected to be a particularly tough campaign season for incumbent Republican state leaders in 2022.

[Born 2 Roll]

Georgia House Speaker David Ralston and Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr both send Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms letters stating their concerns about Atlanta’s worsening crime problems.

Speaker Ralston specifically expressed great concern about the 192 officers that have left the Atlanta Police Department within the past year.

State lawmakers send letter to Atlanta mayor over city’s spiking crime problem (WSB-TV Atlanta) (VIDEO)

[architect77]

Originally Posted by Craziaskowboi

Major U.S. cities are reaping what they've sown.

No other major city's local newscasts is entirely filled with the day's litany of crimes committed like Atlanta's.

I got so turned off by it that I planned to return to NYC and went up interviewing for jobs in 2013. The 40 degree, rainy weather in April was a reminder though of the biggest reason i left.

You hear so much talk about racism these days. You know what I think it racist is....

Day after day reporting on the news about all the crimes committed by teenagers without ever digging and searching and remedying the underlying root causes.

That sentiment is never voiced on the news and that indifference to me says we don't care at all.

I think we need to asking all of the troubled youth what their lives are like, what's missing or is there anything that would have prevented them from opting to break in cars, commit whatever crime, etc.

Addressing the underlying causes could make an impact.

And jail/prisons in America aren't educating or training in any way despite how the internet could be doing it for free practically.

The rate of recidivism in out prison system is about 50% or more but what do they expect upon release when the inmate knows one way to survive and hasn't been taught any trade or anything else?

It almost isn't serving any purpose except to make privately-owned correctional facilities rich.

[SEAandATL]

Originally Posted by architect77

No other major city's local newscasts is entirely filled with the day's litany of crimes committed like Atlanta's.

I got so turned off by it that I planned to return to NYC and went up interviewing for jobs in 2013. The 40 degree, rainy weather in April was a reminder though of the biggest reason i left.

You hear so much talk about racism these days. You know what I think it racist is....

Day after day reporting on the news about all the crimes committed by teenagers without ever digging and searching and remedying the underlying root causes.

That sentiment is never voiced on the news and that indifference to me says we don't care at all.

I think we need to asking all of the troubled youth what their lives are like, what's missing or is there anything that would have prevented them from opting to break in cars, commit whatever crime, etc.

Addressing the underlying causes could make an impact.

And jail/prisons in America aren't educating or training in any way despite how the internet could be doing it for free practically.

The rate of recidivism in out prison system is about 50% or more but what do they expect upon release when the inmate knows one way to survive and hasn't been taught any trade or anything else?

It almost isn't serving any purpose except to make privately-owned correctional facilities rich.

NYC isn't much better this decade, or really any American city for that matter except maybe San Diego. Crime isn't just an Atlanta problem but an America problem, and unfortunately Atlanta/Georgia is easily accessible from most of the country (it's not an island like Hawaii). But I also agree that KLB is useless and is part of the problem, not the solution and needs to be voted out.

[walker1962]

Originally Posted by Born 2 Roll

Atlanta could face intervention from state authorities to help crackdown on rising crime in Georgia’s capital city amid a spate of violent and property crimes over the past year.

Georgia House Speaker David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) on Thursday called for a General Assembly panel to study Atlanta’s crime problem over the summer and decide whether “state intervention may be necessary.”



Georgia Lawmakers To Look At State Intervention In Atlanta Crime-Fighting (Georgia Public Broadcasting/Capitol Beat News Service)

violent crime is up nationwide. Fund more police patrols and preventive programs

[walker1962]

Originally Posted by Craziaskowboi

Major U.S. cities are reaping what they've sown.

Major US cities are what created the countries wealth, not cities of 10, or 15 thousand towns.

[K1404]

Originally Posted by Phil P

Maybe the state can help pick up trash and do landscaping in downtown too? I walked through downtown (not midtown) earlier this week as I was down there for work and wanted to see it for the first time. I now understand why Buckhead wants to secede into it's own city, Atlanta, at least downtown around the capitol, just gave up on itself. Maybe it was always this bad but I doubt it.

The hundreds of homeless are not an easy problem to solve, but they could at least put a little effort into basic maintenance. If it's dead and dangerous, it'll be deserted real fast and then we're back to the flee the cities mantra of the 80s.

Buckhead is already turning into a slum. It gets worse by the day. Crime aside, I just drove about a mile and a half down Peachtree and saw a dozen or so homeless people; trash everywhere; fresh graffiti; tire tracks from the nightly street racing and hit-and-runs; damaged sidewalks, planters, and lamp posts; derelict buildings.

It almost feels like intentional neglect at this point.