For example, in 1997 the city experienced 12,000 fewer crimes and 46 fewer homicides than it did in '96. Since 1992, the number of murders committed in Atlanta has dropped by 26 percent. If we were ever going to shake that awful stigma, if we were ever going to reduce crime, we would have to reinvent the way we approached public safety. Change never comes easy, but under the fine leadership of Chief Beverly Harvard we have been able to do a number of things that help to explain the reduction of crime in Atlanta. First, we built and staffed nine new mini-police precincts, putting cops closer to problem areas and decentralizing our force as a whole.
Police are now able to work closer with the community.
And, residents know exactly where to go when problems arise. We have found that when the mini-precincts move in, criminals move out. In the case of the Vine City mini-precinct, the criminal element was so threatened by our new show of force, they bombed, rammed and otherwise attempted to destroy the facility when under construction. But just this Spring we opened that mini-precinct, and already neighbors are noticing a difference. But simply building new precincts was not sufficient to convince criminals that we meant business, nor was it enough to encourage residents to make crime reduction their business, too.