mpsa

Midtown Ponce Security Alliance held a meeting at Lutheran Redeemer on Monday. APD is addressing the current crime talk by putting emphasis on the troubled areas. The APD contends that violent crime is down while smaller crimes, like car break-ins, are up. Zone 5, which includes Midtown, Downtown, Old Fourth, Ansley, and Atlanta Station, experienced 4049 auto thefts last year, or about one every two hours.

To combat this, the department is launching the Clean Car campaign. It asks people to remove everything from their car, including all traces of anything of value. At one point, it was suggested to wipe the suction marks a GPS system might leave on your windshield because a passing criminal might think you could have simply stashed the unit in your glovebox.

Zone 5 Commander, Major Khirus Williams and Councilman Kwanza Hall addressed these issues. During the Q&A, the department's furloughs were addressed. Williams confirmed the furloughs were forcing 20 officers a day to be absent from his Zone. We all seemed to wonder how exactly the city will be able to hire more officers when it cannot keep the ones it has working.