FBI report: In metro area, violent crime down

By ERNIE SUGGS and SHANE BLATT

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Maybe Atlanta police Chief Richard Pennington was right.

The FBI’s Uniform Crime Report being released Monday will show that crime — at least of the violent nature and despite a stretch of high-profile incidents — is down in the capital city.

A preliminary FBI report confirmed that earlier this year, but Monday’s data will reveal how the rest of metro Atlanta is doing.

The new information will focus on the smaller counties and the outlining cities.

“I think violent crime is down. What’s up for us seems to be domestic violence,” Norcross police Chief Dallas Stidd said. “I’m not sure if it’s due to people being out of work. Theft might be up some, too.”

The UCR is an annual measure of crime across the United States, based on information provided by local police departments.

In Atlanta, where the perception of crime might be worse than the actuality, the data could help quell some fears. According to preliminary figures, Atlanta had 672 fewer violent crimes in 2008 than in 2007. The city also had 24 fewer murders, 22 fewer rapes and 269 fewer robberies.

In August, in an article for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s editorial page, Pennington noted that in 2009 those numbers have continued to go down.

“Atlanta is without question safer than it has been in decades. Over the past five years, we averaged 109 homicides, the lowest since 1964-1968,” Pennington wrote. “Every week we analyze crime trends. In 2009, crime is down 10 percent.”