The Atlanta Police Department’s Zone 2 Precinct closed out the summer down (-7%) in total Part One Crimes compared with the same YTD numbers from 2019. More impressively, we are currently sitting just (+9%) above where we were last year and are projected to finish the year in the black. I am not going to pretend that we didn’t see an increase in violent crime and shooting incidents, but lost in all of the media frenzy about crime in Buckhead, Zone 2 continued to remain the safest place to live in the City, with just 11% of all of the City’s violent crime occurring in our footprint. The Atlanta Police Department is charging ahead with our commitment to combat criminal activity despite some persistent challenges that we are facing as it relates to criminal recidivism, prosecutorial backlogs, and manpower. The support from the community stakeholders has had a direct and positive impact on the morale of the men and women of the Zone 2 Precinct, and has empowered them to reengage in time-tested and proven community policing strategies that are necessary to fight crime. As a result, Zone 2 has led our Department in our trackable proactive policing metrics. The men and women of Zone 2, as well as the other APD resources that have operated consistently within our footprint are to be commended.

When it comes down to how people feel about crime in their neighborhoods, we know that Part One Crimes don’t tell the whole story. Perception of lawlessness is not driven by data derived from the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) system; it is fueled by activity that impacts an individual’s quality of life. Street racing, illegal water vending, and activities that stem from our entertainment districts and are all things that people experience on a regular basis when they are going about their daily routines. The Atlanta Police Department understands the importance of mitigating the impact of these activities. We will continue to deploy our resources and collaborate with our law enforcement and community partners to tackle them to the best of our ability.

I am very excited that the Zone 2 precinct has created a four-man Bicycle Unit that has been focusing on quality-of-life issues in and around the Piedmont/Morosgo area. This unit’s presence has provided relief to the business and residential communities and is the heartbeat of our community policing efforts in an area that has traditionally seen a mixture of Part One crimes and quality-of-life issues. The feedback from the community has been overwhelmingly positive, and we intend on sustaining this effort indefinitely.

Zone 2’s relationship with the Buckhead Community Improvement District (BCID) continues to be robust and fruitful. The creation and implementation of both the off-duty supplemental mobile patrols and the off-duty bike patrols have been instrumental in helping us curtail crime and foster community interaction to promote a sense of security and safety within their areas of operation. We have been able to leverage these patrols to enhance our presence in and around our entertainment districts and our parking areas. Our consistent drop in auto-related crimes since week twenty two of this year can be attributed in part to the enhanced visibility of these patrols.

Major Senzer's comments continued

A comparative analysis, which looked at a particular beat cluster that comprises the Buckhead Village and a section of the Peachtree commercial corridor, revealed that Zone 2 needed additional staffing to support the high calls-for-service volume and help mitigate other factors impacting police response capabilities. As a result of the study, APD Chief Bryant announced the creation of a new West Village Precinct which will augment the current staffing level of Zone 2 by a minimum of twenty four (24) additional officers by the summer of 2022. The officers working out of this precinct will focus on traffic-related incidents which will free up the beat officers to conduct more proactive crime-fighting measures and decrease response time for calls-for-service. This new precinct will be a game-changer for Zone 2.

Finally, I would like to thank everyone who supported the proposed Public Safety Training Center (PSTC) on Key Road. The creation of a new PSTC is the single most important thing that we can do at this time to support the advancement of the public safety response capabilities for the City of Atlanta. Everything that we do as first responders – from our tactics, critical decision making, hiring and developing new police recruits, and developing our current first responders into our future leaders – all have their roots in training. When first responders understand that their Department, City leaders, and the citizenry of this great City, value the importance of providing them with best-practice training opportunities in a world-class facility that is conducive to learning, the positive impact that this has on morale, recruitment and retention cannot be overstated. It’s also important to note that despite our staffing challenges, APD has always maintained its operational readiness to respond to critical incidents. Our ability to deploy special operations personnel within a moment’s notice to any area of the City, along with our ability to shift resources on the fly, affords us unique capabilities that smaller departments simply cannot provide without the benefit of mutual aid agreements and MOU’s. With the anticipated growth of the Department, these capabilities will only become more robust. The PSTC will certainly play a pivotal role in ensuring the long-term sustainability of these capabilities, along with the development of emerging best practices within each professional discipline.

As we move into the final months of 2021, I am optimistic about where we are headed as it relates to public safety. 2020 challenged us all, and I believe that those who chose to stay in law enforcement and push forward became stronger and more resilient. And, as Winston Churchill insinuated when he said, “never let a good crisis go to waste,” I believe that we have emerged from the trials and tribulations of 2020 with a better understanding of what we need to do to make our Department stronger and make our communities safer. As the commander of the Zone 2 precinct, I look forward to continuing to work with everyone in this capacity.

Major Andrew Senzer

Atlanta Police Zone 2 Commander

We hope this finds you well and safe. The last quarter has yielded many public safety updates from APF and APD, chief of which was City Council approving the Public Safety Training Center (PSTC) lease. We sincerely appreciate everyone who took time to contact city council representatives in support of the project.

Updates over the past quarter include:

• Plans for a new APD precinct in Buckhead Village are well underway. To determine the need for this new precinct, APD looked at the crime, officer duties, and the level of activity in the community. APD recognized that the Buckhead Village area adds over 100k people daily. APD determined that the area is comparable to the scope of the Midtown Precinct. APD plans to build out the new precinct by next year, adding a minimum of 24 officers to eventually fill the precinct.

• APD has realigned their code enforcement and permit departments, allowing them to target more night spots. This should lead to less crime within these establishments.

• APD has centralized their investigation unit, expanded the aggravated assault unit, and created domestic violence, repeat offenders, and crime against property sections.

• APD’s APEX Unit is now called the Titan Unit. This unit will target street-level crime as well as violent offenders.

• APD has moved into their temporary training facility at Atlanta Metropolitan College until the PSTC is completed.

• With City Council’s approval of the PSTC ground lease, APF has moved to the next phase of planning and construction efforts. In the next few weeks, APF will activate the construction planning efforts in earnest.

We would like to send a special thank you to the City Council men and women who supported and voted in favor of the new training center. On behalf of The APF and The Buckhead Coalition, we would like to recognize the leadership and fortitude shown by Joyce Shepherd, Cleta Winslow, Howard Shook, Dustin Hillis, Andrea Boone, Marci Collier Overstreet, Michael Julian Bond, Matt Westmoreland, Andre Dickens, and JP Matzigkeit (Amir Farokhi was not present for the vote and Felicia Moore could have only voted if a tie had occurred).

Please reach out to any of us with any questions, ideas, thoughts and public safety concerns. Together we can forge solutions that will ensure Buckhead remains a thriving and safe community.

Jim Durrett ~ President & CEO

The Buckhead Coalition

Dave Wilkinson ~ President & CEO

The Atlanta Police Foundation

DONE

NEXT

FUTURE

With City Council’s approval and the Mayor's signing of the ground lease, The Atlanta Police Foundation is moving to the next phase of Public Safety Training Center planning and construction. In the next few weeks, APF will activate the construction planning efforts in earnest, including:

• Phase II land survey to identify property remediation needs

• Formal tree census of the 85-acre tract

• Refinement of engineering schematics

• Initial meeting with Community Stakeholder Committee

• Attrition is down 28% from this time last year, and APD now has a force of 1,661 officers

• Efforts continue to reach 100% of the 2,046 officers authorized for the Atlanta Police force

APD's One Atlanta One APD Plan includes a robust recruiting strategy to hire more than 250 officers per year.

Supplemental Bike Patrol

The supplemental bike patrol funded by the Buckhead CID is providing an important, added layer of public safety within the commercial district. Read more about one recent success story.

On Sept. 24, an off-duty APD officer working for the Buckhead CID's bike patrol heard a door security alarm while riding through the parking lot of Macy's at Lenox Square. He observed a male leave the store with several items in his arms while wearing a backpack on his stomach, so the officer followed the male as he fled on foot to a parking deck at the Marriott Hotel across the street.

There the officer encountered the male, who dropped the bags and ran from the scene. The officer then collected the bags and returned the items to Macy's Loss Prevention which valued the recovered property at $3,040.50.

After leaving Macy's, the officer returned to Marriott Hotel to follow-up on his investigation. While inside the location, security advised that an employee had a visual on the male. The officer was able to locate the male, eventually following him to a nearby parking deck. taking him into custody. The male was later identified as having been previously arrested for armed robbery, burglary, entering auto, and shoplifting and has four felony convictions. On this instance, he was charged with felony shoplifting; criminal damage to property; and obstruction.

A raw data comparison of reported crimes in beats 206, 208 and 211 (the police patrol areas that make up and immediately border the BCID) shows that overall summer crime was down 15% in 2021 vs. 2020 (June-August). Although there is still a lot of work to be done, we would like to thank the men and women of APD who are making a difference along with all of the supporters of the Buckhead Security Plan.

To see a more detailed break down of crime in Atlanta, click HERE.