View from the cop: Crime & punishment
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AJC.com > Metro > View from the cop > Archives > 2007 > April > 19
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Prom season advice for parents
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For those of you with prom candidates, it’s time for that little talk about drinking. Don’t forget that even though your intent is to keep them off the street, getting them a room and ALLOWING drinking is against the law and putting you in a serious liability category. One of Newton’s earliest theories was that you cannot contain drunk teenagers so even if you got them a room, they will, sooner or later wander.
Parents putting coolers in the limo andor giving the driver a few bucks to make a beer stop is a no-no. Your stance should be No Tolerance. No doubt that some of them will find a way however you would be surprised at how many parents give the okay to drink, thinking that if you take away the keys, you eliminate the possibility of disaster. I know there will be a bunch of sneaking around but don’t sign off on allowing alcohol.
TRAFFIC FATALITY
We had a traffic fatality this weekend. Early on Saturday morning a car, driven by two young girls, ages 21 and 23, lost control and hit a brick sign and then a tree on Dunwoody Place near Roberts Drive. Neither occupant had a seat belt on.
DRIVE BY THEFTS This is from a woman who was at the Starbucks on West Paces Ferry. this week at 7:15 p.m.: My 9 year old son and I were sitting outside the Starbucks. My purse was on the sidewalk by my feet. A blond, white female - mid to late 20s - jogged by, leaned over and snatched my purse. Having had a difficult day already, I was just mad enough to take off after her screaming like a banshee for someone to stop her. I had several men that were about to intercept her, coming from the Chevron at the corner, but a dark colored Honda pulled up, driven by a black male, and she jumped in. The license plate on the Honda was stolen off an Altima so this was clearly premeditated. Furthermore, upon reflection, I believe there was a third “look out” involved, an older blonde female driving an old Mercedes parked in front of the Starbucks.”
Good example that crooks plan things out so remember that everything is RISK vs OPPORTUNITY. Just remove the opportunity. Put your purse down between your feet or leave it in the trunk or sit it in the chair with you or strap it somewhere. The best piece of crime prevention here is just knowing that this can happen.
GYPSIES
We’ve been getting some information from some of the Gypsy community members regarding some scams in the area. Although the initial information is vague, it addresses the activity that includes roofing scams, asphalt and car-body work scams, and fortune telling rip-offs. Most of the information deals with seniors. Another popular approach is the “Sugar-Daddy” scam where an elderly man is befriended by a woman who then coerces him to begin buying for her. I think this last one is more global than restricted to the gypsy community.
VOLUNTEERS
We are going to kick off a program using civilian volunteers. You may or may not know that we have a horrendous false-alarm problem in Sandy Springs. We average between 600-800 false alarms each month. Multiply that by 30-minutes average for each call and you get some serious wasted time that could be better applied in patrol time. We plan to use volunteers to gather and maintain data on these alarms and then expand the functions to include proactive projects to lower and keep the numbers of false alarms as low as possible. Volunteers will have an office at police headquarters. We will conduct background checks on all applicants so please don’t apply only to have us unleash some skeletons in your closet!
Although we haven’t set any timelines yet, we are looking at 15-20 hours of volunteer time each month.
If you are interested, e-mail me at steve.rose@sandyspringsga.org.
FEEDBACK Got something you want to send out or say? Send it to me at steve.rose@sandyspringsga.org
I received a couple of e-mails regarding scams and so forth having to do with consumer products. Here’s the state office to contact for CONSUMER PROTECTION:
Governor’s Office of Consumer Affairs 2 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive Suite 356 Atlanta, GA 30334 404-656-3790 404-651-9018 FAX 800-869-1123 (toll free) www.2.state.ga.us/gaoca
