Atlanta - Safe American City becoming safer daily! (Dallas, Jackson: violent crime, neighborhood)

[tonygeorgia]

Atlanta surely isnt as bad as DC, Bmore, Philly, Memphis, Dallas, Houston, Phoenix, Detroit, Chicago, etc

APD to add 100 new officers by early 2010 *| ajc.com

People who talk about our crime probably havent lived in the cities listed above....


FBI Crime Reports......2007-2008 Murder count http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/08aprelim/table_4ok-wi.html (broken link)

Jacksonville, Fl
07'-123
08'-112

Atlanta
07'-129
08'-105

Phoenix
07'-212
08'-167

Oakland
07'-120
08'-115

Indianapolis
07'-114
08'-114

New Orleans
07'-209
08'-179

Baltimore
07'-282
08'-179

Detroit
07'-392
08'-306

Kansas City
07'-90
08'-115

St. Louis
07'-138
08'-167

Vegas
07'-119
08'-120

Memphis
07'-131
08'-137

Dallas
07'-200
08'-170

San Antonio
07'-122
08'-116

DC
07'- 190+ (FBI doesnt post DC #'s)
08'- 190+

[brettk]

I suppose its safe compared to say Detroit or Memphis, but 100 murders is still a 100 murders. You can say Im a simple guy whose never lived in a big city, but that seems like a lot to me.

[tonygeorgia]

^^^^There are over 20+ American city with over 100 murders....

[neil0311]

Are those numbers listed as per 100K people, or just absolute numbers? You can't compare absolute totals easily. Usually the comparison is done per 100K people.

[johnnyboy2008]

Well, first of all the "city of atlanta" is only 560,000 people but the 13 county metro area is supposedly 4-5 million. Now that most of the projects are torn down, those numbers are off of the stats for "city of atlanta" and now shifted to dekalb, fulton, cobb, clayton and we don't see those numbers in the atlanta stats. The crime is still there, just more spread out.
Secondly, since the city of atlanta got caught "losing" 20,000 police reports which included 1,500 major crimes, they have switched to "talking people out of filing reports" or "mis-classifying" crime reports. I have heard this many times.

While 5 years old, this is from the atlanta mayors press release from 2004:
"Atlanta has been one of the most violent cities per capita in America, among the 237 cities reporting to the FBI, ranking first or second in nine of the last ten years. Atlanta was first in violent crime in 2000, 2001, and 2002. Atlanta has ranked first, second, or third in total crime in nine of the last ten years. Our homicide rate is significantly higher than the national average and crime is high in every section of this city."

http://www.atlantaga.gov/media/nr_futureofapd_022004.aspx (broken link)

That is the mayor talking. First, second or third in 9 of 10 years. Doesn't sound too comforting.

But if it was up to me, I would spend 100 billion of that stimulus money to hire cops and build prisions and put an end to these scumbags who are terrorizing people.

[afonega1]

Originally Posted by johnnyboy2008

Well, first of all the "city of atlanta" is only 560,000 people but the 13 county metro area is supposedly 4-5 million. Now that most of the projects are torn down, those numbers are off of the stats for "city of atlanta" and now shifted to dekalb, fulton, cobb, clayton and we don't see those numbers in the atlanta stats. The crime is still there, just more spread out.
Secondly, since the city of atlanta got caught "losing" 20,000 police reports which included 1,500 major crimes, they have switched to "talking people out of filing reports" or "mis-classifying" crime reports. I have heard this many times.

While 5 years old, this is from the atlanta mayors press release from 2004:
"Atlanta has been one of the most violent cities per capita in America, among the 237 cities reporting to the FBI, ranking first or second in nine of the last ten years. Atlanta was first in violent crime in 2000, 2001, and 2002. Atlanta has ranked first, second, or third in total crime in nine of the last ten years. Our homicide rate is significantly higher than the national average and crime is high in every section of this city."

City of Atlanta Online (http://www.atlantaga.gov/media/nr_futureofapd_022004.aspx - broken link)

That is the mayor talking. First, second or third in 9 of 10 years. Doesn't sound too comforting.

But if it was up to me, I would spend 100 billion of that stimulus money to hire cops and build prisions and put an end to these scumbags who are terrorizing people.

Atlanta is not the only city that has done this and get caught.It is VERY commonpalce:
Houston:

Police services are provided by the Houston Police Department. Houston's murder rate ranked 46th of U.S. cities with a population over 250,000 in 2005 (per capita rate of 16.3 murders per 100,000 population).[152] The city's murder rate, however, ranked 3rd among U.S. cities with a population of 1,000,000 or more. Even those statistics were believed to be higher after local TV news investigator Mark Greenblatt found the Houston Police Department under-counted 2005 homicides. Officially counting just two more of the city's murders would have bumped up the city's murder rate to second place

Crime section from Wika.

Philly:
Problems with Philadelphia's crime statistics have dogged the department since late 1997 after a series of news reports about problems in the data. These forced the police to do multiple recounts, and last year, the commissioner withheld flawed statistics from the FBI.

This to say that this is not uncommon as you think across the U.S.Some get caught sooner than others.Some as yet are still to come .You can believe that.

And prisons are NOT the answer unless the key is thrown away.They will never do that.So for a thug to go in and sharpen his "kraft" only to get out bigger meaner with a grudge is not what is working.Something has got to change to stop the behavior either before or after they get out

[johnnyboy2008]

Prison is a last resort...all other attempts at preventing crime have failed. Sooner or later, we have to quit playing Dr. Phil and get tough with people. And a large part of the problem is that the jails are so overcrowded that criminals fear no punishment. They know they will be out very soon. Here in florida, some 25 year old kid murdered somebody and it was published that he had 30 prior convictions and was out walking the streets.
I am sure there are hundreds of studies about the causes of crime. In my opinion, once a person turns to a life of crime, they rarely go straight. Weather they are sitting in prison or sitting in a gang headquarters or the neighborhood park, that is just a physical address...their mind is still criminal. My statement about building prisons boils down to this...suppose you are carjacked at gunpoint...would you rather see the perp. serve the full 10 years or get out in one year cause prisons are overcrowded. Should we let verified violent criminals out in society? Look at the arrest records of these people...some are a mile long.
I don't know what we could do to prevent people from turning to crime. We spend 70 billion federal tax dollars on welfare to make sure that poor people have ample food and shelter so they don't have to turn to crime. Even people who are filthy rich and have everything still commit crimes...look at the enron exec in prison. It has to do with a mindset rather than a lack of opportunities.
Finally, I know a guy from yemen/saudi arabia who owns a quicky mart. He says over there, if you are caught stealing they chop off a finger. If you are caught again, they chop off another finger. If you are caught again, they chop off a hand. He also says because of this, people don't steal cause they fear the punishment. He says the jails are empty.

[nb1968]

Originally Posted by johnnyboy2008

Prison is a last resort...all other attempts at preventing crime have failed. Sooner or later, we have to quit playing Dr. Phil and get tough with people. And a large part of the problem is that the jails are so overcrowded that criminals fear no punishment. They know they will be out very soon. Here in florida, some 25 year old kid murdered somebody and it was published that he had 30 prior convictions and was out walking the streets.
I am sure there are hundreds of studies about the causes of crime. In my opinion, once a person turns to a life of crime, they rarely go straight. Weather they are sitting in prison or sitting in a gang headquarters or the neighborhood park, that is just a physical address...their mind is still criminal. My statement about building prisons boils down to this...suppose you are carjacked at gunpoint...would you rather see the perp. serve the full 10 years or get out in one year cause prisons are overcrowded. Should we let verified violent criminals out in society? Look at the arrest records of these people...some are a mile long.
I don't know what we could do to prevent people from turning to crime. We spend 70 billion federal tax dollars on welfare to make sure that poor people have ample food and shelter so they don't have to turn to crime. Even people who are filthy rich and have everything still commit crimes...look at the enron exec in prison. It has to do with a mindset rather than a lack of opportunities.
Finally, I know a guy from yemen/saudi arabia who owns a quicky mart. He says over there, if you are caught stealing they chop off a finger. If you are caught again, they chop off another finger. If you are caught again, they chop off a hand. He also says because of this, people don't steal cause they fear the punishment. He says the jails are empty.

I absolutely agree. We need to get tough like the Yemeni example. However the ACLU and other wussies who control the laws would never allow this.
We need to carry out quick Death sentences without appeals.
WHY DO WE CODDLE CRIMINALS IN THIS COUNTRY??????

[roxyrn]

You need leadership committed to safety and quality of life who are not afraid to take a stand (ala NYC Mayor Rudy Guliani) in order to make Atlanta a safe place. Twenty years ago, I wouldn't have ventured to Times Square during the day, let alone at night. I remember taking my baby out for a stroller ride in Central Park during the 1980's and being approached multiple times by drug dealers. Now, I feel much safer in midtown Manhattan than midtown Atlanta. I ride the NYC subways without hesitation yet feel very uncomfortable with MARTA.

[johnnyboy2008]

Originally Posted by nb1968

I absolutely agree. We need to get tough like the Yemeni example. However the ACLU and other wussies who control the laws would never allow this.
We need to carry out quick Death sentences without appeals.
WHY DO WE CODDLE CRIMINALS IN THIS COUNTRY??????

well, i think instant death penalty is a little extreme because there have been dozens of people released from death row because DNA cleared them.

I thought of another story...i met a few thug drug dealers in midtown. They said they moved from southern cali. I asked them why they moved from cali to atlanta...they said "they couldn't deal with cali's "three strikes" law which means life in prison after 3 felonies (i think). They said they had 2 strikes and the next time they get caught it is life...so they moved to atlanta to practice their crime." So strict prison time does help.