Our November 2015 crime and activity report is now available for public review on our crime stats page.
Our October 2015 crime and activity report is now available for public review on our Crime Stats page.
As you will see in the report, we ended October 2015 even with last October on Part I Crimes year to date at 75. This is great news as it places us on track to finish 2015 just as strong as the past 2 years. -Chief Our September 2015 and 3rd Quarter 2015 Crime and Activity Reports are now available for public review on our Crime Stats page. For Reader's Digest fans:
For the 3rd Quarter:
Part I, or major, crime has been on a significant downward trend in Tyrone over the past several years. In fact, we ended 2014 with a 52.5% decrease from our all time high of 200 Part I crimes in 2011 and it looks like we are on track to finish strong in 2015 as well: As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns about crime and police activity here in Tyrone!
-Chief Perkins On Friday we reported via social media that a young man had robbed our Publix by showing the cashier at the customer service desk a gun he had hidden under his shirt and demanding that she place all the money in her drawer into a bag. The clerk complied, the suspect left, and he was subsequently caught. We use social media to broadcast this type of information to keep you informed about crime and police activity as well as to highlight how safe this community is despite the occasional major crime.
And once we post the information, IT happens: a handful of well intentioned citizens post comments lamenting the "good old days" and how Tyrone ain't what it used to be. Here are some actual recent examples: "That is so scary, I grew up in Tyrone and it is a shame how things are there now." "It sounds like y'all are dealing with more of this crap now." "...seems as though more and more crime is heading this way" Folks, Tyrone is no more dangerous now than it was when I came to work here from Fairburn in 1999. We have always had armed robberies, entering autos, car chases, and burglaries and, due to the nature of our society, we always will. The ONLY difference between the "good old days" and now is that you just weren't as likely to hear about it back then. You see, the TPD didn't start posting monthly crime statistics or publishing an annual report to the citizens until I became the police chief in 2007 and we didn't start using social media until 2008. Consequently, you hear about pretty much everything now because I believe it is important to share with you as much information as possible and social media empowers us to do that very quickly. In the past, it might have been reported in a local paper and talked about over breakfast at the Shamrock Kitchen, but the reports rarely received the widespread coverage that they receive today. Let me give you an example of what I am talking about as far as our crime rate goes... Here are all of our armed robberies since 2001 based on FBI UCR Table 8: 2001: 2 2002: 0 2003: 1 2004: 0 2005: 2 2006: 0 2007: 1 2008: 1 2009: 2 2010: 1 2011: 3 2012: 0 2013: 0 2014: 1 2015: 2 TOTAL: 16 AVERAGE: 1.06/year As you can see, Tyrone is no stranger to the occasional armed robbery, but an average of 1 per year over the past 15 years is certainly not a glaring example of things getting out of hand. In fact, we have experienced a major decrease in major crime since 2011 and we are the only Metro Atlanta jurisdiction to boast double digit UCR Part I crime figures for the past 2 years in a row. Independent publications have named us Georgia's "Happiest" City, One of Atlanta's "Top 10 Suburbs" in which to raise a family, and (multiple times) we fall into the Top 10 of Georgia's safest cities - all due to our extremely low crime rates. My colleagues in other Metro Atlanta jurisdictions would love to boast our UCR numbers! We are constantly at work monitoring trends and looking for new ways to keep you safe and, based on our track record, it has been working very well! Don't panic and PLEASE, if you ever feel like local crime is getting out of hand, do not hesitate to call me with your questions or concerns. -Chief Perkins Our crime and activity report fr August 2015 is now available for public review on our crime stats page. Highlights are as follows:
Our crime and activity report for July 2015 is now available on our Crime Stats page for public review. The highlights are as follows:
Our crime and activity report for February 2015 is now complete and online for your review on our stats page.
If you're the Reader's Digest type, Part I crime was down 25% as compared to February 2014 and Part II crime was down by 10%. Revenue trap theorists will be very disappointed to learn that 72% of our enforcement actions last month were warnings. Get the full report here and please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns. -Chief Attached are the slides from the NWS's 4pm weather briefing. We will post updates as necessary and as time permits and we encourage you to stay tuned to local TV/Radio news for further updates. -Chief Perkins ![]() Our crime stats and activity report for January 2015 has been completed and published to our stats page for public review. In summary, for you Reader's Digest types, Part I crime was down slightly from January 2014 while Part II crime was up slightly. Our increase in Part II is mainly attributed to fraud cases and DUI arrests. Please feel free to contact us at any time with any questions or concerns you may have over our statistics reports. -Chief Lt. Nelson taught a class here at the PD this morning on complacency and situational awareness for police officers. He used the following video in the class to demonstrate how oblivious some people are to their surroundings and I thought it would be a good share for our citizens and followers as a means to bring awareness to you as well. The "victims" in the video are college students at the University of Michigan walking to and from their classes. They are so unaware of their surroundings that people are able to follow within inches of them without being detected in most cases. This prank is called "ghosting" and it serves as a great teaching tool. How easy would it be for a criminal to get the upper hand on these young people? Take age out of the equation...when was the last time you checked behind you when out and about in public? Do you ever scan new places for escape routes and/or cover and concealment options? Do you ever "lock on" to certain people based on their behavior or because something about them just doesn't seem right? Situational awareness can go a long way towards decreasing your chance of becoming a victim. I do not advocate that anyone should live their lives in a constant state of paranoia, but I do believe that paying attention to our surroundings is an essential survival skill that we could all probably improve upon. Check out the video below and share it with your friends! |