Atlanta’s newest police unit Wednesday night arrested a group believed linked to recent armed robberies in the Little 5 Points area.
Members of the Atlanta Proactive Enforcement and Interdiction (A.P.E.X.) Unit were sent out on a robbery detail following six hold-ups in the area in the past five days, police spokesman Sgt. Curtis Davenport said.
Reports of a small, silver sedan being seen near each of the incidents gave the officers a common thread, police said.
Around 11 p.m., Wednesday, A.P.E.X. officers saw a silver Mazda 6 driving slowly along Euclid Avenue near Hurt Street with its headlights out.
When police started following the car, its driver allegedly sped up and tried to lose them. Police eventually stopped the car, and officers found four men inside with a shotgun, a ski mask and gloves.
Zone 6 detectives were called to the scene, and on further investigation, all four individuals were arrested and charged with armed robbery. Police said they are still investigating and did not identify the men.
The A.P.E.X. unit was started in the shadow of the now-defunct Red Dog unit, which was formed in the late 1980s as a ground-level anti-drug task force.
The Red Dogs were disbanded in February amid controversy following a $1 million dollar settlement with 19 men who sued the city and police for alleged mistreatment by police – many of them Red Dogs – during a botched raid on the Atlanta Eagle gay bar in 2009.
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and Police Chief George Turner were careful not to link the ending of the Red Dog unit to the settlement, saying new times called for a new style of policing.
"They're going to have to be fit, they're going to have to be of the highest ethical standard, they're going to have to use technology," Reed said.
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