Blogger Matt Hennie is the founder and managing editor of Project Q Atlanta. He’s a longtime Atlanta resident who’s worked in journalism since his days as a Purple Paladin at Furman University in the early ‘90s.
Violent crime in Atlanta went down. And I say that with a straight face only because the statement comes with the stamp of approval from the FBI.
The feds issued their annual take on crime stats across the country Monday and it shows that in 2008, violent crime in Atlanta dropped while property crimes jumped.
No doubt, an increasingly combative Mayor Shirley Franklin and her police chief will be touting the report — at least the portion that shows violent crime is down — to justify their arguments that the only problem with crime in Atlanta is the public’s perception that it’s on the rise. Seriously.
But it’s no comfort to Kyle Keyser, the gay man who was attacked and beaten in the Old Fourth Ward last year. He later launched Atlantans Together Against Crime, which held one of its recently monthly rallies in the gayborhood.
The news will also be no comfort to the man murdered in Piedmont Park last Thursday or the one stabbed on a Midtown street 15 minutes later.
And the rise in property crimes won’t surprise Lisa Borders, the gay-friendly City Council president whose downtown condo was burglarized last week — while she was in it.
More on the stats, reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
CRIME IN ATLANTA
Violent crime
2007: 8,075
2008: 7,403
8.3 percent decrease
Murder
2007: 129
2008: 105
18.6 percent decrease
Rape
2007: 148
2008: 126
14.9 percent decrease
Robbery
2007: 3,577
2008: 3,308
7.5 percent decrease
Aggravated assault
2007: 4,221
2008: 3,864
8.5 percent decrease
Property crime
2007: 36,232
2008: 38,978
7.6 percent increase
Burglary
2007: 8,859
2008: 9,989
12.8 percent increase
Larceny/theft
2007: 20,353
2008: 22,499
10.5 percent increase
Vehicle theft
2007: 7,020
2008: 6,490
7.5 percent decrease
Arson
2007: 155
2008: 147
5.2 percent decrease
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