News and Notes
This will be a long report as I received four weeks of data
from APD all at once. Please bear with me and read to the end.
Zone 6 Toy Drive
For anyone who wants to donate to the Zone 6 Toy Drive for
families in need, there is still time. Please leave a new unwrapped toy on John
Wolfinger’s front porch no later than noon Monday 12/14. John lives at 1054 Vance
Ave. The party to distribute gifts to the children will take place on December
17th. If you would like to help John and Officer Dodson to set up
for the party, please let John know by Monday also. Feeling especially
generous? The folks at APD would love to have two bicycles (one for a boy and
one for a girl) and bicycle helmets. These will be given as part of a raffle at
the party, and will be the hit of the event. To date John has delivered six car
loads full of toys from generous Virginia Highland residents.
Street Number Signs
One of the simplest things you can do to protect yourself
and your family is to make sure first responders can find your house or
business in an emergency. You might be surprised how many houses have no
numbers, or have numbers that do not show up after dark. This can mean valuable
minutes lost while Atlanta Police or Fire/Rescue personnel search for the right
location. The Virginia Highland Civic Association has designed beautiful house
number signs which would make a perfect gift for family or friends. Find more information
here http://vahi.org/safety/house-signs/
Active Shooter Response
Given recent mass shootings at various locations around the
country some have questioned the preparedness of Atlanta Police Department to
respond to an active shooter situation. Deputy Chief Joseph P. Spillane, who is
responsible for the Field Operations Division (including our Zone 6 officers),
took the time to provide us with this detailed response.
·
ALL
Police Officers are trained to react to situations with individuals who may be
armed. APD deals with armed individuals on a daily basis. APD has
seized over 1500 firearms this year from encounters on the Streets of Atlanta.
·
We
currently have Active Shooter training for the entire Department as recruits go
through the Academy.
·
We
provided the entire Department with additional training several years ago on
Active Shooter and now provide it to basic recruits.
·
We have
Active Shooter for the entire department scheduled in our 2016 In-Service
Training.
·
We have
several units in APD that train on Active Shooter more frequently than regular
beat officers. APEX, SWAT, CERT and other specialized teams train more
frequently on Active Shooter than line officers.
·
We have
a Patrol Rifle Program; these are Units in the field trained and equipped in
our Patrol Rifle program and qualified to carry an AR-15 based platform weapon
daily. There are over 110 regular patrol officers with this qualification
trained on Active Shooter.
·
We have
an additional 60 Patrol Rifles on order to train additional personnel for the
Patrol Rifle Program.
·
We have
scheduled a refresher training for our Rifle Qualified patrol officers and
Supervisors.
·
We have
several active shooter drills throughout the year. These include
tabletops and actual drills at locations. The next tabletop involves the
Atlanta Streetcar this month.
We provide additional on-going training at both the Atlanta Police
Academy and the Georgia Public Safety Training Center on Advanced Patrol Rifle,
Advanced Firearms and Active Shooter response training to officers who elect to
become more proficient.
If anyone noticed on the news at
the WWE Event at Philips, Ga. Dome Games and other events, officers armed with
AR-15 Platform Rifles on patrol. These officers are there specifically to
engage any Active Shooter at any event.
APD feels we are prepared to
respond to any incident that occurs in the City of Atlanta and continue to
train our personnel to be equipped and effectively trained in any situation.
APD’s Homeland Security Unit provides intelligence and threat assessments
to APD. We also rely heavily on our Federal and State partners to provide
us intelligence on any potential target.
Deputy Chief Joseph P. Spillane, Atlanta
Police Department
Field Operations Division
(404)
546-4995 (Office)
Street Sweeping
Virginia-Highland is scheduled for street sweeping by the
Atlanta Department of Public Works on Monday December 14th. This
street cleaning is only scheduled four times a year, so if at all possible,
please park cars off street for the day so that they can do a good job. If you
are unable to move your vehicle the truck will just go around you.
Since this activity is also scheduled on trash collection day
and Department of Public Works employees will leave cans in the street, this is
another barrier to a good cleaning. If you can snag you cans before the street
sweeper passes, this will be helpful. If you would like to point out the
inefficiency of this schedule, please contact Commissioner Richard Mendoza rmendoza@atlantaga.gov.
Crime Statistics
The following information is taken from our
APD Zone 6 report (http://atlantapd.org/Zone6.aspx).
It includes information from the Virginia-Highland Beat
601 reported incidents along with relevant reports from other
nearby beats. Keep in mind that not all incidents are reported. A map showing
the location of beats 601 – 612 within Zone 6 can be found at this link http://boundaries.atlantapd.org/Map-Zone6-Beats.aspx.
This information is not shared to scare anyone, but to let you know what
happens around us every day so you can be alert and aware.
Homicide None
in Beat 601
Rape None
in Beat 601
Pedestrian/Carjacking
Robbery Three in Beat 601
In the early hours of November 1st a woman was
returning from the commercial district along N. Highland to her friend’s house on
St. Charles near Frederica to retrieve her vehicle. She was grabbed from behind
by the neck in a choke hold. She began to scream for help and the suspect hit
her repeatedly in the face. A second suspect told the first male suspect to
grab her purse, then they both fled the scene with her bag. Several witnesses
heard the screams, called 911, and at least two nearby male residents went to
the victim’s aid. However, none of the witnesses were able to provide a description
of the suspects. The Victim was transported to Grady Hospital for treatment.
On November 23rd in the overnight hours a man was
approached on Maiden Lane by two men armed with a rifle and a handgun. They
stole his cell phone, ID, cash, car keys and coat.
On November 24th in the parking lot of Friends on
Ponce, suspects approached a black Mercedes, pressed a gun against the window
and demanded the occupants give up their property and exit the car. The
suspects fled the scene in the car.
Residential
Robbery None in Beat 601
Commercial Robbery
None in Beat 601
Aggravated Assault None
in Beat 601
Residential
Burglary None in Beat 601
Commercial
Burglary Four in Beat 601
On November 9th the Threadz store on St. Charles was
broken into. Video showed suspects used a crow bar to damage the front door.
Video shows a friend of a store employee and two other individuals who went
straight to a supply closet and stole shoes and pants.
On November 12th and November 14th 310
Rosemont on N. Highland was burglarized. In both cases the front door glass was
broken. In both cases suspects stole high end jeans and other apparel and
accessories. Video footage shows that the suspects were in and out of the store
in less than two minutes and wore dark clothing, long sleeves, hats, masks, and
gloves.
On November 22nd the Judith Bright store at the
corner of Virginia and N. Highland avenues was burglarized. The suspect through
a rock through the window and stole jewelry from the window display.
There is clearly a crew working Zone 6 and targeting these
stores with high-end apparel or jewelry that is easy to resell. Zone 6 command
staff tells us that they are working these cases hard, have some leads they are
pursuing, and the break-ins are not confined to our neighborhood, but are in
fact city-wide.
In the meantime the VaHi Safety Team, Property Owner Stuart
Meddin and VHCA are working to find sources of funding to install video cameras
that will be monitored by the APD Video Integration Center. More information on
that effort as it develops.
Larceny From
Vehicle Five in Beat 601
Vehicles were entered on Ponce De Leon Ave (Chow Baby
parking lot), Ponce Place (Highland View parking lot), N. Highland Ave (on
street between St. Charles and Greenwood), St. Louis Place (on street in front of residence), and
Briarcliff Place (on street in front of residence). Entry was made via smashed
windows. Taken were a gym bag and cash, vehicle tag, purse with cash and cards,
a jacket, clothing/suitcase, briefcase, camera, laptop, and other electronics, and
a second laptop and bag.
Please make sure to completely clean out your vehicle, and
if you have guests visiting, please ensure that they do the same – even if this
means unloading a fully loaded car.
Other Larcenies Three
in Beat 601
On November 11th a locked bicycle was stolen from
a outside stairwell. Please make every effort to bring bicycles inside as locks
do little to deter serious criminals who carry all of the tools necessary to
defeat the lock.
On November 14th at Hand and Hand a server’s bag
was stolen from the waitress stand. If bar and restaurant owners could provide
locked storage for employee belongings this would be helpful. It is easy for would
be thieves to see employees coming to work and stashing their belongings behind
the bar or in other unlocked areas. Then all they have to do is wait until
everyone is distracted with customers.
On November 15th a woman entered the Druid Hills
Presbyterian Church to use the restroom. She left her bag on the counter and
when she came out of the stall it was gone.
Auto Theft
None in Beat 601
Stay Safe!
Kay Stephenson
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