Home > Thinking Right > Archives > 2006 > September > 27
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Crime in Atlanta
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Major crime in Atlanta has dropped to its lowest point in 37 years, with murders down 21 percent and rapes down 16 from 2004, says Police Chief Richard Pennington. Other major crimes, including armed robberies, thefts and aggravated assaults dropped too, though by lesser amounts.
Thirty-seven years ago the level of crime in Atlanta, and whether it was trending up or down, was front-page news. Now it’s not exactly a yawner, but the numbers don’t register as especially significant. For one, relatively few of us go to Atlanta’s downtown anymore. For another, the serious crime moves around metro Atlanta so we’re less likely to associate it with a place.
As the election approaches, crime seems largely to have faded as an issue. The Mexican meth labs concern me, as does illegal immigration and the emergence of drug gangs. I am concerned, too, by daily accounts of murders by the crazies and those without conscience who kill frivolously. The inability to impose and carry out the death penalty concerns me. (On that score, I was dumfounded by the press conference by black Atlanta-area liberals threatening to withdraw their enthusiasm for Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor because he’s rolled out a proposal to end parole for some violent felons and because he’s advocated the death penalty for repeat child molesters. He’ll not do either, of course, because Democratic mouth-pieces won’t stand for it. But to suggest, as Joe Beasley of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition did, that talking about those issues “could have a chilling effect on his support in this community” does prompt a question: What community do they represent?}
In the election or in your life, is crime a major concern? I’m curious, too, whether thoughts about crime figure into your perception of Atlanta and whether it affects decisions about where, when or whether to go downtown. I don’t think it’s particularly unsafe, though it’s evident the city has no interest whatsoever in policing the annoying panhandlers who can spot a tourist a mile away. Is crime getting better, as the Atlanta numbers would seem to suggest.
