VaHi Safety Team Report: March 23, 2014
Annual Citizen’s CourtWatch Training
Learning how our court system works and does not work at times makes for a fascinating and educational Saturday morning. I will not be able to attend this session this year – but hope that there will be several from VaHi present in courtroom 1D in the Fulton County Courthouse at 185 Central Avenue, SW, ATL 30303 from 8:30 to 12:30. This is an opportunity for citizens to learn how you can be the eyes and ears of the community in the courtroom. Please let Reiko Ward, the courtwatch coordinator for the DA’s office, know you will be attending by e-mailing her at [email protected] The most convenient place to park is at the Underground garage on MLK right across from the courthouse.
Ansley Mall Warning
I have been notified by my alert and aware Old 4th Ward and Midtown friends that Bobby James Perry is out of jail again and has picked Ansley Mall (mainly in front of the Publix) to hustle for cash. He was last arrested here on St. Charles Avenue on 9/7/13 when he was found sleeping (or passed out) out on a sidewalk. He had a warrant out of Bartow County, but I assume that jail sentence has been taken care of and he has found his way back to his old stomping grounds. He has had a long list of bookings at Rice Street since 1988, mostly involving drugs and thievery in some way or another. He is NOT wanted for anything now that I know of – but I am writing this to ask you to PLEASE NOT give him money that will just help him to stay here in our midst. His latest mug shot is at http://www.jailbase.com/en/arrested/ga-fcso/2013-09-07/bobby-james-perry-1325296.
1001 St. Charles Avenue, NE
This former location of the Gaslight Inn has been repossessed by an unknown bank (at least to me) and is for sale. The back porch of this beautiful old house is unsecured and now is serving as an urban campground. I have reported this property to code enforcement, but have not yet heard back from them as to being able to contact the bank for securing the property and to have someone to press tresspassing charges on these intruders.. No – the real estate agent listed on the sign in the front yard has never answered my e-mails or phone calls.
Making 911 Reports
I have been made aware of certain criminal activity here that has gone unreported to APD via a 911 call. I am referring in particular to intrusions of unlocked vehicles where either nothing or very little has been taken – this is still a violation of private property and Zone 6 needs to know. These reports serve to establish activity patterns and help Zone 6 know where to enhance personnel coverage. Calling 911 is the only reliable way to let APD know about crimes and also about suspicious behaviour and individuals. Do NOT call the Zone 6 precinct office, as they do not know where our Officers are at any given moment – only the 911 call center knows this information. When you call 911 the first person you talk to is a general operator who ascertains what your call is about and who then either passes it on to AFR for fire and medical situations or to the dispatcher for the APD Zone you are calling from. The Zone dispatcher knows where all Officers are in that Zone and can find someone to respond to your call as soon as is possible.
EarthDay BeltLine Cleanup 4/19
The details of this cleanup are at https://eventbrite.com/e/earth-day-on-the-atlanta-beltline-2014-tickets-10900215839?ref=estw. One of the target areas for this cleanup will be the infamous bamboo grove across the BeltLine from the Piedmont Park dog park and behind Park and Elmwood Drives. Hopefully this cleanup will finish the elimination of this hide-out grove that was started by the good folks from Two Urban Licks a couple of years ago. If you were among the big groups that have participated in these previous year’s cleanup sessions, you will remember the urban jungle state of this now well-used paved and civilized trail. We now know that these cleanups lead to more paved trailway. There should be a big turnout from VaHi for this April 19 event.
The following reports are taken from our APD Zone 6 (http://atlantapd.org/Zone6.aspx) VaHi Beat 601 reports for the 2014 weeks 9 and 10 (2/23-3/8). These reports are not meant to scare anyone, but to raise your level of awareness as to what happens around us everyday.
Aggravated Assault – No reported incidents from Beat 601
Auto Theft – No reported incidents from Beat 601
Commercial Burglary – No reported incidents from Beat 601
Residential Burglary – A PDL Avenue residence in the Atkins Park district was entered via a broken kitchen window. The victim’s backpack was used to haul out many of the stolen items and Larry Burke was arrested with this filled backpack. Burke is yet another career criminal who has a long record of priors and was just released from Rice Street on 1/7/14 for another burglary charge and struck this house on 2/28/14. I am hoping for a CourtWatch session when he comes up for his hearings – I’ll be letting you know when.
Commercial Robbery – No reported incidents from Beat 601.
Nearby at the Walgreens store at Piedmont and North Avenues, a shoplifter took 4 bottles of wine and once outside passed them on to someone in a waiting car and the car fled, For whatever reason the shoplifter did not get in the car, but stayed and fought with the security guard. Now – because of his resistance, he is charged with robbery instead of just shoplifting.
Residential Robbery – No reported incidents from Beat 601.
Pedestrian Robbery – No reported incidents from Beat 601.
Larceny From Vehicle – Reported incidents involved two vehicles on North Highland Avenue and one at the Highland View Apartments on PDL Place.
There were 42 such reported incidents in this time span all over the Zone.
Larceny Other – At the Inman School a teacher’s cell phone was taken from her desk, and as the reports reads “some kids called her later, snickering in the background and hung up”.
Nearby, Green’s Liquor Store caught two shoplifters with arrests. Also our PDL Avenue Kroger and Publix stores caught two shoplifters.
Stay alert, keep ALL parked cars cleaned out at ALL times and enjoy spring.