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 10, 2017 - Recycling and Disposal
Event
June 12, 2016 – VHCA Meeting
June 15, 2017 - Atlanta
Symphony Orchestra Concert in the Park
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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