More gang stuff (Atlanta, Thomasville, Washington: transplants, crime, houses)

[Big L]

Originally Posted by mg83

Every morning I go online to read the news... and I'd say 5/7 days, there is a murder in Atlanta. I guess most are happening in DeKalb... like this morning Shooting kills man, injures two in DeKalb | ajc.com (http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/dekalb/stories/2008/04/17/shooting_0418.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab - broken link)


I suspect, as I've said before, Atlanta's murder rate will return to the normal, disgusting Memphis/St.Louis-esque rate.


This is a rather violent city... many don't like to admit that.

This is a violent city. However, most of the violent crime does not tend to be linked to gangs. That was what I was trying to stress earlier.

[mg83]

The "cooking the books" prior to the Olympics is well-documented, is it not?

Who the hell knows what the violent crime rate here has been for the last two decades... :eyeroll:

[mg83]

Originally Posted by Big L

This is a violent city. However, most of the violent crime does not tend to be linked to gangs. That was what I was trying to stress earlier.

What does it matter if it is linked to gangs or not? Actually, would gang activity not be easier to handle?

[Big L]

Originally Posted by mg83

What does it matter if it is linked to gangs or not? Actually, would gang activity not be easier to handle?

The original poster was referring to gang activity and I was responding in kind. Gang activity (in this case, a gang-related shooting in Austell) was the original point of the thread, not the overall crime rate in Metro Atlanta.

[Big L]

I take it that this thread will turn into a pissing contest like most other threads on here.

[mg83]

Not a pissing contest as you actually see and can objectively identify Atlanta as one of the violent cities in the U.S., that's better than many on this board.

As for the "gang" activity in the original post... ridiculous. Doesn't even look like it's a "true" gang (I say this loosely) that relies on the drug trade or other criminal activities. Looks like a bunch of mislead young kids who probably want to live a lifestyle glorified by shows like The Wire.

[Big L]

Originally Posted by mg83

Not a pissing contest as you actually see and can objectively identify Atlanta as one of the violent cities in the U.S., that's better than many on this board.

As for the "gang" activity in the original post... ridiculous. Doesn't even look like it's a "true" gang (I say this loosely) that relies on the drug trade or other criminal activities. Looks like a bunch of mislead young kids who probably want to live a lifestyle glorified by shows like The Wire.

I agree. A lot of the suburban "gang" stuff is an imitation of what these kids see on television or hear on the radio.

[atlantagreg30127]

Originally Posted by Big L

The original poster was referring to gang activity and I was responding in kind. Gang activity (in this case, a gang-related shooting in Austell) was the original point of the thread, not the overall crime rate in Metro Atlanta.

Sometimes it's hard if not impossible to peg something as "gang related" or not.

For instance, in that news article it was easy, because some of those involved actually told the officers exactly that this is what it was about. Other crimes throughout the metro area are not so clearly defined at first, or ever.

Example - Two teens home invade a house and many times it will be reported as a random crime, yet it may have been part of a gang initiation. Sometimes when they're caught they'll admit this, and other times in order to protect others in the gang they'll say nothing, so it gets logged as a non-gang random act.

Same with carjackings, general burglaries, car thefts, etc. A number of them that go reported as generic random crimes ARE related to gang activity but simply may not be reported as such because those involved don't admit that aspect of it, or, the local leaders don't want to alarm residents that there is gang activity locally.

So the point: There's more gang activity related crimes throughout the metro area than most realize - it's just not all being reported as such.

[rcsteiner]

Originally Posted by Noc

And you wonder why crime is so high. The ratio of officers to people in the entire metro area is something like 1 to 1000. The police force in Atlanta is stretched way too thin.

That's roughly the same as where I used to live (Bloomington, MN has roughly 116 officers [that might be total personnel, I'm not sure] for a population of 85,000, and Minnetonka, MN has 58 officers for 51,000 people).

Then again, Minneapolis itself has "800 sworn officers and 300 civilian employees" for 370,000 people.

How many officers does the City of Atlanta have?

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by rcsteiner

That's roughly the same as where I used to live (Bloomington, MN has roughly 116 officers [that might be total personnel, I'm not sure] for a population of 85,000, and Minnetonka, MN has 58 officers for 51,000 people).

Then again, Minneapolis itself has "800 sworn officers and 300 civilian employees" for 370,000 people.

How many officers does the City of Atlanta have?

Of course those officers have to cover 3 shifts, so the number out on the streets can never be close to the total.