May 24, 2017

VaHi Safety Team Report April 15 - May 2017

News and Notes


Summerfest June 2-4th


Participating in our neighborhood festival is a great way to get to know neighbors, which is the foundation of our neighborhood watch program. People who know each other tend to look out for each other. Please consider volunteering Sign Up Here! There are also events exclusively for residents on Friday night including a parade, community dinner and a movie. Get all the details!
Want to stay in the know about what is happening in the Neighborhood? Like VHCA on Facebook!

Graffiti


We are lucky that a big investment of time and effort from volunteers several years ago eliminated the graffiti from our neighborhood. For quite a while we saw very little new tagging, but sadly this behavior is returning. The good news is that Steve Messner, VHCA Secretary has stepped up to lead the charge in keeping the neighborhood cleaned up. If you see graffiti anywhere in the neighborhood, please snap a picture and send it, along with a description of the location, to graffiti@vahi.org. Steve has identified city resources that will help with removal. He is also tracking public areas that need a clean-up and signs that need to be cleaned of stickers, etc. or that are missing.

Some of you may have noticed the graffiti on the BeltLine bridge over Ponce de Leon. It seems that as soon as this area is cleaned, new tags pop up. Monitored video cameras are already helping with this problem, and lights are coming. Thanks to funding from 350 people who contributed to the Light the Line campaign along with funds from the TSPLOST and GDOT, we will see the new lights this year. Going forward, funding for lighting and video cameras will be included in the cost of all new trail construction.

Preventable Crimes


Recently we have seen an uptick in the theft of packages and bicycles from porches and balconies. Here are a couple of tips that will help you hang on to your property.

Virginia-Highland is fortunate to have a partner in Morningside Storage on Ponce Place. You can have packages delivered to their location and they will call you when the package arrives. Just stop in to sign up and never lose another package.

As for bicycles, know that a determined thief can defeat most any sort of lock you purchase given enough time and privacy. If you are leaving an expensive bicycle outside your residence, it will be a target – especially if the area is dark or sees little traffic late at night. If possible, take bicycles inside at night, and never leave one unlocked.

APD Video Cameras & License Plate Readers work


Not too long ago a thief stole a grill from in front of Ace Hardware. What the individual didn’t know was that the store had video surveillance of their lot and captured a good image of the vehicle and license plate. Some criminals are not particularly bright. The next day, APD’s Video Integration Center (VIC) system located the vehicle based on that plate and alerted officers. When the criminal returned to the store to try for another prize, police were waiting! Kudos to Intown Ace Hardware for taking advantage of available technology and working with APD to get another thief off the street. It’s good to know that the technology we have invested in (video cameras and license plate readers) is money well spent.

If you have a camera at your residence or business, please send the following information to safety@vahi.org

Name
Business Name (if applicable)
Street address
Phone number
Email address
Number of cameras
Area covered by camera (e.g. driveway, street, rear parking lot, etc.).
We will share this information with APD so that detectives will know who to call when there is a crime nearby.

Upcoming Events


May 26 – 28 , 2017 - Atlanta Jazz Festival
June 2 - 4, 2017 - Virginia-Highland Summerfest
June 9, 2017 - Atlanta Moon Ride
June 12, 2016 – VHCA Meeting
June 19, 2017 - NPU F Meeting

Crime Statistics


These statistics are pulled from the APD Open Data Portal http://opendata.atlantapd.org/Default.aspx. It includes reports from Beat 601 and Zone 6 as a whole. Because this data was pulled from an online data file and not from a prepared report with narrative which has been provided by APD in the past, I have no additional information or context that I can provide for any of these incidents.

The good news is that we have heard from Zone 6 command staff on this issue. They are currently trying to streamline the duties of an officer to allow them to resume providing detailed reports. We hope to be back to providing more detailed crime information in a few weeks.

Note that this data is for a total of 4 weeks. 

April 15 – May 13

Beat 601
Zone 6
Homicide
0
0
Rape 
0
0
Pedestrian/Carjacking Robbery
1
5
Residential Robbery 
0
0
Commercial Robbery 
0
1
Aggravated Assault  
0
21
Residential Burglary
2
13
Commercial Burglary 
1
9
Larceny From Vehicle 
25
152
Other Larcenies 
1
74
Auto Theft        
2
18

If this report was forwarded to you and you would like to be added to the distribution, please send a message to me at VaHiSafety@gmail.com with your name, email address, and affiliation. Thanks.

Stay Safe!


Kay Stephenson

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