Coming in Sunday's AJC

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Each Sunday, the AJC brings you in-depth stories on the topics you care about. Here’s an excerpt from a story on Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington that you’ll read in this Sunday’s AJC:

Richard Pennington lets the numbers tell his story. People may not like his style. But crime is down, says Pennington, down so far that Atlanta’s next police chief will find it difficult to continue what he has done.

When Pennington took charge in 2002, the city was ranked the nation’s third-most violent. This year, it ranked 18th.

“Violent crime in Atlanta is down 39 percent; our overall crime in Atlanta is down 19 percent during my tenure,” Pennington said in an interview last week.

Pennington is all about the numbers. He often comes across less as the chief of police and more as the CEO of the APD. He brought in a data-driven system that gives a real-time count of the arrests and crimes taking place on the streets, enabling police to react quickly to emerging trends. Crime rates fell. Those numbers, Pennington said, are what count.

But other numbers help explain the chief’s unpopularity. For instance: 260. That’s how many days he has been away during his tenure in Atlanta, according to his appointment and planning calendars. That’s the equivalent of an entire work year.

The rest of the story only in Sunday’s newspaper.

Also in this Sunday’s AJC:

We'll take a last look at the Atlanta mayor's race - including Norwood’s and Reed’s positions on key issues - before Tuesday's runoff.

‘Tis the season...for metro Atlanta arts organizations to fund a big chunk of their budgets for the year by staging holiday shows virtually 24/7.

One of Georgia’s most successful political fundraisers isn’t even running for election. Who is he and what’s he doing with all that money?

Attention Civil War buffs: Some experts are using cutting-edge technology to uncover new sites and information about the Atlanta campaign.

Plus full coverage of Saturday night’s big rivalry game between Tech and UGA – including views from columnists Mark Bradley and Jeff Schultz.