Articles

Atlanta Crime Lowest in Decades

City Newsbytes
Office of the Mayor of Atlanta
August 30, 2005

Atlanta is making historic strides when it comes to reducing crime. During a recent Atlanta Police Department (APD) recruit graduation ceremony, Police Chief Richard Pennington announced that crime in Atlanta is the lowest in decades.

Within the past two years, each of Atlanta's seven major crime categories has experienced lows. Trends for 2005 indicate overall crime will be its lowest since 1969, while homicide appears on course to decrease by 50 percent in two years.

Upon his arrival in 2002, Chief Pennington spearheaded the Fragile Momentum Plan of Action. The Plan is a comprehensive re-organization of the APD to decrease crime and increase the APD's partnership with the community in improving overall quality of life.

Among these initiatives was the Command Operations Briefing to Revitalize Atlanta (COBRA) accountability system. COBRA monitors the crime statistics of the department by zones, increasing accountability among officers and zone commanders.

At the graduation ceremony, Chief Pennington said the combined experience of the recruits will make the APD a stronger and more effective squad. Of the 64 recruits, 25 hold bachelor's degrees, two hold master's degrees and 16 have at least one year of college experience or more.

The 64 new recruits will join the 1600 Atlanta police officers that patrol the 131 square miles of Atlanta. The department's goal is to increase the police squad to 2000 sworn officers.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (HJAIA) General Manager Ben DeCosta offered the keynote address. At the ceremony, DeCosta, who is the brother of a New York police officer, thanked the APD for its commitment to helping HJAIA be among the best airports in the world.

Copyright 2005. City Newsbytes is produced by the Mayor's Office in partnership with the Public Information Officers from all City departments. To learn more about the programs and services of the City of Atlanta, visit www.atlantaga.gov.