Safety Team Report: November 12, 2012
By: John Wolfinger
APD In Mourning
The tragic helicopter crash on November 3 that took the lives of two APD air patrolmen, Richard Halford and Shawn Smiley, has left their surviving fellow officers realizing how fragile human life is and of the dangers they face every time they report for duty in service to us – the citizens of Atlanta. On behalf of the VaHi Safety Team neighborhood watch participants, I extend sincere condolences to these officers’ families and all of APD. As Major Robert Browning stated “When a police officer dies in the line of duty, a piece of all officers goes with them.”
http://www.facebook.com/AtlantaPolice/posts/510631515614382
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/hundreds-bid-farewell-fallen-apd-officer/nS3qB/
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/family-friends-prepare-honor-fallen-apd-officers/nS2xs/
Thought Provoking AJC Op-Ed Article
The interesting and insightful article about crime stats that features my Inman Park partner-in-crime Greg Scott is at http://blogs.ajc.com/atlanta-forward/2012/11/08/going-beyond-crime-stats/
Safe Delivery Addresses for Package Delivery
For those of you who are new to VaHi and nearby neighborhoods – we have a terrific free service from local businesses to insure that packages sent to you actually reach you. You can have deliveries sent to Intown Ace Hardware, Morningside Wine and Crystal, CityStorage or Urban Body, so they will not sit unattended on your front porch – visit any of these friendly community-minded merchants to sign up for this program. Most of them also call you when you have a package to be picked up. Then, just remember to alert the folks who will be sending you holiday gifts that you have a safe address for them to send packages to. We have virtually eliminated front doorstep thefts in VaHi thanx to this program. Don’t risk losing the fruitcake from Aunt Ruth by not using this safe address program.
Fall Leaf Removal Practices
Good article about fall leaf removal at https://vahi.org/reminder-to-bag-fall-leaves-for-removal/. If you spot neighbors or lawn service guys bagging leaves in black plastic trash bags – please remind them to use paper bags instead – using a plastic bag defeats the whole purpose of composting the leaves. Also remind thoughtless folks you see blowing leaves and grass clippings into the street that we are spending 3 billion dollars to update our storm sewer system and those leaves will eventually end up clogging a storm drain.
BeltLine Pedestrian Crossing at Monroe Drive/Virginia Avenue
Long-awaited pedestrian crossing improvements are being made at this dangerous intersection. http://vahi.patch.com/articles/eastside-trail
The following reports have been gleaned from the APD Zone 6 (http://www.atlantapd.org/Zone6.aspx) crime stats for the 2012 weeks of 41 and 42 (10-7 to 10-20) with emphasis on our VaHi Beat 601, but with news from around the Zone as it applies to us. Again, I state that these reports are not meant to scare anyone, but to make you aware of what happens around us everyday, and to raise your level of alertness.
Aggravated Assault – No reported incidents in Beat 601
But across PDL Avenue at the Clermont Lounge at 1:45 a.m., when a female patron knocked drinks from a pregnant waitresses’ hands, the victim told patron she would have to pay for the drinks – the patron became irate and attacked, punching and kicking the waitress. She was taken to Emory Midtown Hospital. No word as to her injuries.
Auto Theft – A vehicle was stolen from the parking lot of a Virginia apartment building.
Auto Theft Recovery – No reported recoveries in Beat 601
Commercial Burglary – Ten Thousand Villages store on St. Charles Avenue was entered via a pried-open front door – $100 in cash was stolen from under a counter.
Residential Burglary – A Greenwood Avenue apartment was entered via forced entry of the front door. A PDL Place apartment was entered via a pried-open front door.
Commercial Robbery – No reported incidents in Beat 601
Residential Robbery – No reported incidents in Beat 601
Larceny From Vehicle – Vehicles were entered on Greenwood Avenue, North Highland Avenue (3), PDL Avenue (3), PDL Place, and Hudson Drive (2).
All around Zone 6 in this time period there were 78 such incidents reported. Imagine how much more time our officers could have spent patrolling if they had not been tied up writing reports with these easily preventable incidents. Remind your friends and neighbors of the Clean Car Campaign!!
Larceny Other – A victim stated he loaned a cell phone to a fellow patron at a PDL Avenue club and it was never returned. A bicycle was taken from a Brookridge Drive back porch. The CVS store on North Highland Avenue caught a shoplifter in the act.
Nearby at Smith’s Olde Bar on Piedmont Avenue in Zone 2 an I-phone was stolen and the responding officer used a search app and kept tracking the phone thru VaHi and Midtown streets – finally turning the chase over to GA State Patrol who eventually caught the perp on I-85 @ Beaver Ruin Road!!! At the Walgreen’s store on Piedmont Avenue @ North Avenue a “customer” entered not wearing sunglasses, but attempted to leave wearing a pair with the price tag still hanging from them and was caught – duh! An entire PARKatlanta parking meter was dug up behind the Plaza shopping center in Poncey Highland. A shoplifter was caught at Green’s Liquors on PDL Avenue. A South Carolina Craigslist camera seller drove down to the Grant Park CVS parking lot on Boulevard to meet a prospective “buyer” at 2:30 p.m. The “buyer” snatched the camera and fled on foot. A good warning about the folks you may encounter on Craigslist. Do not meet them alone in an unprotected venue. At the Abbadabba’s shoe store in L5P, a group knocked on the locked door at closing time and were let in to shop – when they left, empty shoe boxes were found by employees instead of a purchase. Consider this as a warning to our local merchants about accommodating after-hours “customers”.
Pedestrian Robbery – No reported incidents in Beat 601.
But nearby, cell phones were snatched from pedestrians on North Avenue at 11:30 p.m. and on Ralph McGill Boulevard at 3:50 p.m.
Please remember the “See Something – Say Something” campaign. If you witness something or someone that gives you the gut feeling that all is not right – make a 911 call report and possibly save someone else (or you) from becoming a victim. Don’t just assume that someone else will make a report to 911.
Stay Alert and enjoy Fall!!