Though Atlanta's mayor and police chief and Georgia Tech's president made note of statistics that point to a safer campus, their presence at a news conference Monday indicated that fighting crime in the neighborhoods surrounding the university remains a formidable challenge.
"To the extent Georgia Tech has a problem, Atlanta has a problem," Mayor Kasim Reed told reporters. "We have a problem, and we have to get more aggressive."
The solution? "Students have nicknamed it the Flying Saucer," said Col. Wayne Mock, public safety manager for Midtown Blue, a private security force composed by off-duty Atlanta police officers who patrol neighborhoods like Home Park.
It is, in fact, a 2011 Dodge Charger Enforcer II, a high-tech cruiser that's anything but subtle, with 27 emergency lights.
"Visible is what we wanted," Mock said.
The unveiling of the new crime-fighting tool came eight days after a 20-year-old undergraduate awoke in his dormitory room to find two men stealing his laptop, cell phone and wallet.
"Move, and I'll shoot you dead," one of the suspects told the victim at gunpoint, according to a Tech police report.
That incident came a little more than a week after three other students were mugged off-campus by armed thieves.
Crime outside the university bubble has risen since 2008, according to statistics provided by the APD. From Oct. 29, 2009 through July 1 of this year, Tech police reported 63 "safety alerts."
Only 16 of those alerts occurred on campus. But that distinction is largely irrelevant when the victim is a student.
"I want families to know how important this is," Reed said. "I'm going to target the people who are targeting the kids."
The $37,000 sedan is funded by a mix of corporate and community organizations including the Midtown Alliance, Atlanta Police Foundation, Home Park Community Improvement Association and North American Properties, manager of Atlantic Station. It will be dispatched immediately on and around the Midtown campus. Tech and Atlanta police officers will be partnered inside the vehicle in hopes of improving response times.
"If one car isn't enough, we'll add another," said the mayor, adding the city has "enough resources" to combat the problem.
Meanwhile, Tech President Bud Peterson made it clear he opposed a National Rifle Association-backed movement — supported by some of the state's top lawmakers — that would allow students to carry concealed weapons on Georgia college campuses.
Georgia is currently one of 22 states that ban guns at state colleges and universities.
"I oppose open carry," he said. "I believe it's a mistake for our campus or any other."
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