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Atlanta police report overall drops in early‑January crime but note year‑to‑date increases in homicide and aggravated assault
Summary
Atlanta Police Department reported drops in weekly and 28‑day metrics but told council the figures may be influenced by the recent winter storm; council members pressed APD to improve family notifications in a high‑profile homicide and the department said it will follow up.
Deputy Chief Smith of the Atlanta Police Department presented the police department’s early‑January data to the Public Safety and Legal Administration Committee on Jan. 16, saying short‑term figures showed declines but some violent‑crime measures were up year‑to‑date.
Smith told the committee that for the most recent week the city was down 21 percent, for the last 28 days down 7 percent and overall year‑to‑date down 24 percent. He cautioned the figures are likely inflated by the recent winter weather and “are not gonna hold,” and promised a deeper annual report later in the month.
Council member Antonio Lewis pressed the department on communication with the family of Sakia Smith; Lewis said the family was not receiving updates. Deputy Chief Smith replied the department normally contacts families regularly and said he would ensure Miss Brittany Harp, the mother of Sakia Smith, receives updates.
Lewis also pointed to year‑to‑date violent‑crime numbers, noting homicide was listed as up 100 percent and aggravated assault up 42 percent. Smith said the raw counts (for example, four versus two homicides year‑to‑date in the comparison) require further analysis; he said some increases stem from domestic disputes and known‑associate escalations and that staff were "doing a dive into those numbers." When asked whether the city was seeing nationwide upticks, Smith said there was nothing specific to tie the local numbers to a national trend.
Smith highlighted a series of recent investigative successes: a sexual‑assault investigation solved by coordinated work among the Special Victims Unit and zone detectives; a robbery at 250 Far Road where detectives used camera networks to identify a suspect with multiple arrest warrants who later also faced federal postal‑service charges; and an airport parking‑deck incident on Jan. 3 in which officers detained a suspect who had been released from prison Dec. 27 and was on active parole. Smith said CID was working with the parole board to seek revocation.
Why it matters: Short‑term drops in calls for service can reflect temporary conditions such as severe weather; council members flagged the increase in some serious violent‑crime metrics and sought more complete data and family communications in high‑profile cases.
