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The Neighborhood
News & Features
Crime Plan
New APD chief outlines vision for public safety
By Collin Kelley
N ew Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields has outlined her public safety plan
for the city.
Shields said during her first press conference in January and in a
follow up interview with Atlanta INtown that she had been working with
colleagues reviewing critical needs for the city and acknowledged that while crime is
down, APD can do better.
“There has been a 27 percent reduction in crime under Mayor Reed,” Shields said,
“but when people believe their safety is an issue, data is useless. I think people are
tired of hearing data.”
The chief said reduction of violent crime is the department’s number one priority.
Shields said APD would be contacting property owners and managers at a handful
of apartment complexes that have some of the most violent crime in the city. She also
said the department would be focusing on repeat offenders “who have no ambition in
life except to victimize others.”
Shields said repeat offenders are causing most of the crime, and many have 25 to
50 arrests, but gaps in the criminal justice system allow them back on the streets.
“We are going to rein in the relatively small number of repeat offenders doing most
of the crime,” she promised.
“We have to get everyone on the same page — police, prosecutors, judges — and
acknowledge that these gaps in the system exist,” Shields said. “There has to be a
change in how criminals are sentenced and how bonds are issued. It could be changed
right now, but they’ve gotten into the practice of doing things in a certain way. It
perpetuates the cycle of criminal behavior and the offenders know there aren’t any
consequences.”
Another high priority will be working to curb juvenile crime. “The juvenile justice
system is not working,” Shields said, noting that five juveniles in the city have more
than 100 arrests between them at such early ages.
Shields said young, black males are growing up with nothing in their lives,
including absent or disinterested parents, no structure, education and often hungry for
food. That leads to joining gangs and engaging in criminal behavior.
“APD has no desire to lock up young, black men. Too many young, black men
have been locked up for no reason, but there has to be a middle ground between
locking them up and sending them back to nothing. These kids matter to us.”
She said APD would be working with partners to develop programs to reach out to
the top 100 juvenile offenders and steer them away from criminality. One tool will be
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Duette® Honeycomb
the new At-Promise Youth
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This 17,000 square-foot
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Speaking about recent
armed robberies on the
Atlanta Beltline’s Eastside
Trail, Shield said there is
“very little crime there, but
when something happens
it garners an enormous
amount of attention.” But
the chief is sensitive to the
city’s popular amenity and
said upgrading lighting,
adding more cameras and
better signage so users know
where they are on the trail
are on the way. She said
officers’ hours have been
shifted so they are patrolling At | anta p 0 |j ce Chief Erika Shields
the BeltLine later, especially
when people are leaving bars
and restaurants along the
trail.
Shields said improving APD’s technology, recruitment and retention of police
officers and a new four-year pay plan were also on her vision list for the future. [d
City launches transportation
plan update initiative
The Atlanta Department of Planning
and Community Development has
launched an initiative to update the city’s
existing Comprehensive Transportation
Plan.
The initiative will also serve as a
critical element of the Atlanta City Design
Project, which envisions what Atlanta
should look like decades from now, as well
as guide future decisions on the growth
and development.
“As our city continues to experience
unprecedented growth, the City of Atlanta
is committed to ensuring connectivity and
mobility for residents and visitors,” Mayor
Kasim Reed said in a statement. “The
new transportation plan is an essential
part of making Atlanta an even more
competitive city in the region, and will
also create a greater quality of life for our
pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists. We
invite all residents to help shape Atlanta’s
transportation future.”
The transportation planning process
seeks to be open and transparent and will
include extensive community engagement.
The engagement process will consist
of community meetings, social media
polling and pop-up events throughout
the city. The Department of Planning and
Community Development also created
a Stakeholder Advisory Committee and
is seeking local community members
dedicated to advancing Atlanta as a
national model for transportation.
The $300 million TSPLOST and
$2.6 billion MARTA expansion plans
will help leverage the work already being
completed under the $250 million Renew
Atlanta infrastructure bond program. As
part of the program, the City of Atlanta
began synchronizing traffic signals,
adding new bike lanes, repaving roads,
repairing bridges and establishing public-
private partnerships to enhance the local
transportation system starting in 2015.
For more information and to get
involved, visit atlantastransportationplan.
com. [d
6 MARCH 2017 | [d
AtlantalNtownPaper.com