Everybody and their brother is talking about the kidnapping that took place in my neighborhood, East Atlanta, on Saturday night (Sunday morning, actually).
In case you haven't heard about it, two lawyers were abducted after leaving a bar on Glenwood Avenue, then driven to a house in Cabbagetown, where they were held hostage until they were found by police on Sunday. Most of the discussion is about whether the neighborhood is a safe place to live. As far as I can tell, though, most residents, especially those who have been around for years, think it is as safe as any other urban neighborhood in Atlanta. I agree.
One problem with this discussion is that Atlanta as a whole, when compared with other cities in our nation, is just not that safe. A recent Creative Loafing article by John Suggs included a comparison of the likelihood of being a crime victim in Atlanta with other U.S. cities. Based on FBI statistics, he came up with the following: One in 64 people in Atlanta were victims of violent crime in 2006. Compare that with NYC (one in 149 people) or LA (one in 127 people). Yikes.
But what about within our city? I took a cursory look around the web to see if I could find crime statistics for different Atlanta crime zones/precincts. Either I am a terrible researcher, or someone doesn't want me to be able to compare the crime rates for Atlanta neighborhoods. I could find monthly crime reports by zone, but no way of comparing all zones during a month, and more importantly, I'd like to know how they compare over a larger period of time (for instance, within the year 2006). Anyone know of a good place to find reliable crime statistic comparisons for neighborhoods or zones in Atlanta? Please enlighten me.
Another interesting question raised by this incident is this: Which neighborhoods are perceived as being the safest and which are seen as the most dangerous? People who live in the burbs probably feel that intown living is more dangerous. I live in a supposedly sketchy neighborhood, but i would way rather walk home from a bar late at night in my neighborhood than walk home in Buckhead late at night; This is purely conjecture, because I just don't go to Buckhead. (Note: I also don't walk anywhere late at night by myself. Period.)
What can one do to stay safe in Atlanta? We have a dog. Dogs go a long way towards keeping people from lurking around. So do motion sensor floodlights and leaving cars empty of tempting valuables. Reporting crimes and suspicious behavior helps the police to better manage staffing in problem areas. The single biggest thing we can do, though, to improve security is get to know one another. Introduce yourself to your neighbor. Smile at a stranger. Kind behavior begets kindness.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment