Lauren Locke, who was running for the Sandy Springs City Council District 2 seat against incumbent Dr. Melody Kelley, has withdrawn from the race. She campaigned on a message of crime and safety that echoed strategies used by some north Fulton candidates four years ago. The former candidate said she left the race under “extreme […]
Tag: Crime
Posted inLatest News
Fulton DA’s office to lead new anti-crime program in county schools amid gang fears, crime spike
The Fulton County District Attorney’s office is preparing to launch an anti-crime education program in some Fulton public schools, a move intended to block gang recruitment in a system whose crime reports have skyrocketed.
Posted inLatest News
Buckhead Public Safety Task Force issues final report of suggestions and info
The Buckhead Public Safety Task Force has issued its final report after months of meetings.
Posted inLatest News
Georgia in top three states for law enforcement officer killings; the South leads nation
Georgia was in the top three states for law enforcement officer killings in 2021, according to new FBI data that shows the South leading the nation in line-of-duty officer deaths.
Posted inColumns
Buckhead crime task force offers a wealth of information and questions about underlying causes
The Buckhead Public Safety Task Force, established earlier this year by District 8 City Councilmember Mary Norwood, is a cornucopia of information about what the criminal justice system is up to.
Posted inColumns
Buckhead crime task force focuses on gang problem, but data has holes
Created by the City Council to satisfy one neighborhood’s myopic fixation with its crime rate, the Buckhead Public Safety Task Force is unsurprisingly zooming out to focus on statewide and national causes, to wit: gangs.
Posted inLatest News
Buckhead crime rate ‘looking good’; guns stolen from vehicles a problem, says police commander
“So, we’re still looking good with crime” must be the last thing you’d expect to hear from Buckhead’s police commander amid a cityhood movement founded on the notion, largely unchallenged even by its opponents, that the neighborhood is a criminal “warzone.”
Posted inColumns
In Buckhead cityhood debate, how do we measure crime solutions?
When Georgia House Speaker David Ralston (R-Blue Ridge) this month agreed to freeze Buckhead cityhood legislation, he also set ticking a clock for new Mayor Andre Dickens to address the big issue motivating it. The “crime problem,” Ralston declared, is “not solved,” and Dickens would have a one-year crack at doing so.
Posted inLatest News
Early release for former Atlanta official convicted of taking bribes
Atlanta’s former chief procurement officer was granted early release last week from federal custody for his conviction of taking bribes to steer millions of dollars in city contracts to a construction firm.
Posted inLatest News
Atlanta mayoral candidate Felicia Moore unveils anti-crime plan
Mayoral candidate Felicia Moore, president of the Atlanta City Council, unveiled a multi-pronged platform to combat crime at a press conference Friday morning in front of Grady Hospital.
Posted inLatest News
Man defrauds $9 million, files for bankruptcy protection, faces charges by SEC
The former CEO of a defunct Turkish/American chamber of commerce, who resides in Alpharetta, has been charged with defrauding $9 million from investors who shared his Turkish background, were recent arrivals from Turkey and spoke little English.
Posted inLatest News
Georgia’s gun pipeline reached to Barbados, New York rap group ‘Blixky Gang’
More than 200 guns purchased illegally in Georgia were sold in Barbados, New York City, New Jersey and multiple other states, where some were used in shootings, according to string of federal indictments dating to Aug. 4.
Posted inLatest News
Atlanta crime: ‘We’re all seeing something different that’s a little more frightening’
Open defecation, a homeless man chasing little girls near a pre-school in Southwest Atlanta, and potential Chicagoland thugs marking territory in Atlanta were among the concerns discussed Monday during the Atlanta City Council’s Public Safety Committee meeting.
Posted inLatest News
Atlanta City Councilman Antonio Brown says children stole his car in broad daylight
While Atlanta leaders and political hopefuls are working to rein in local criminals, a Wednesday afternoon car theft case has proved that elected officials aren’t impervious to what Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms has called a “COVID crime wave.”
Posted inLatest News
Atlanta Committee for Progress to help fight crime in the city
Facing a growing crime problem in an election year, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms announced Thursday morning the Atlanta Committee for Progress will support her three-pronged initiative to improve public safety in the city.
Posted inLatest News
$30 million scheme to launder money stolen from elderly, lonely, others cracked in Atlanta
More than $30 million was cheated from the elderly, the lonely and unwary others in a international money laundering scheme based in Atlanta cracked through the effort of more than 30 law enforcement agencies across the country, according to a statement from the U.S. District Attorney in Atlanta.
Posted inLatest News
MARTA’s new police chief brings perspective seasoned by policies, politics of APD
MARTA’s incoming police chief is a former president of Atlanta’s police union who ascended to become the department’s deputy chief in a 26-year career that spanned squads that fight crimes including human trafficking, robbery and street-level drug dealers.
Posted inLatest News
Community policing: City of South Fulton gets help from Georgia Tech to shape beats
Fostering community partnerships with police officers is a major thrust of initiatives to be launched in the fairly new City of South Fulton, aided by the work of Georgia Tech researchers who have suggested a way to enable police officers to have more time to interact with the general public.
Posted inColumns
Gov. Kemp’s remarks on street gangs renews interest in report on repeat offenders
Some Atlanta residents who track crime are returning their attention to a report that portrays Fulton County judges as lenient on repeat offenders. Early criticism of the report dwelled on a perceived shortcoming of not being robust enough to inform a meaningful conversation of sentencing reform.
Posted inColumns
Report of 2,000-plus felony charges released on ‘own recognizance’ sparks concerns
A report that criminal suspects facing more than 2,000 felony charges were released without bond last year in Fulton County – including 35 charges of child molestation and 11 charges of enticing a child for indecent purposes – has renewed calls for reform from members of the Buckhead Council of Neighborhoods.
