Shot.
‘A life of crime’: Fulton officials create Repeat Offender Tracking Unit—Mayor: 1,000 people responsible for 40% of Atlanta’s crime, AJC.com, March 22, 2022
Fulton County’s law enforcement officials have been trying for years to identify repeat offenders and keep them from committing additional crimes—but this time they say they mean business.
At a joint press conference held Tuesday morning, Atlanta’s mayor, the police chief, the Fulton sheriff, the district attorney and the county’s chief judge announced they are joining forces to target the city’s most egregious offenders and keep tabs on them.
Repeat offenders are defined as those who have been convicted of three or more felonies. Law enforcement leaders say they account for a disproportionate share of metro Atlanta’s crime.
To address this “scourge of repeat offenders,” Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said local, county and federal law enforcement agencies are combining resources and information to identify such people and track their cases through the court system.
Each week, 30% of arrests made by the Atlanta Police Department are of men and women who have already been convicted of at least three felonies, Dickens told a room full of reporters, city council members and business leaders.
“That’s pretty much a textbook definition of a life of crime,” the mayor said. “We catch them, we arrest them, we convict them. But somehow they’re back on our streets and often they’re back to criminal behavior.”
The Repeat Offender Tracking Unit will share information between police, prosecutors and judges who can choose to keep certain offenders behind bars longer as they await trial.
The unit is starting off relatively small, with just a handful of employees, and is being financed by a combination of public and private sector funding.
It will be headquartered on Mitchell Street in downtown Atlanta and is initially set to include just two Atlanta police officers, two sheriff’s deputies, an employee from the Fulton DA’s Office and administrative staff members funded by the Atlanta Police Foundation. Atlanta Police Chief Rodney Bryant said the unit will likely expand in the future.
“We are being very intentional about addressing our repeat offender issues.” Bryant said. “We have to really start being aggressive. … This is a little different than where we’ve been before.”
The unit’s lease, furniture and technology is being paid for by Central Atlanta Progress, the Midtown Alliance and the Buckhead Coalition.
According to Dickens, just 1,000 people are committing an estimated 40% of Atlanta’s crime. The new unit, he said, sets out to change that.
The tracking unit is designed to get these serial, repeat offenders off the city’s streets,” he said. “Any system that allows a cycle of career crime is a broken system.”
Dickens said there are resources and training programs available for those wishing to turn their lives around. But those who choose to lead a life of crime must be punished accordingly, he said.
Bryant said in the past four weeks alone, Atlanta officers have charged 75 people with more than 1,800 combined arrests: “That lets you know there’s a significant problem in the city of Atlanta.”
One year later, here’s the CHASER.
REPEAT OFFENDER COMMISSION: 2022 Annual Report, Atlanta Police Foundation
REPEAT OFFENDERS BY THE NUMBERS
OVERALL STATISTICS FROM 1,000 CASES DEMOGRAPHICS
AFRICAN AMERICAN REPEAT OFFENDERS ACCOUNTED FOR 934 CASES (93%)
- African American males accounted for 896 of the 934 cases (96%).
- African American females accounted for 38 of the 934 cases (4%).WHITE REPEAT OFFENDERS ACCOUNTED FOR 63 CASES (6%)
- White males accounted for 60 of the 63 cases (95%).
- White females accounted for 3 of the 63 cases (5%).ASIAN / HISPANIC REPEAT OFFENDERS ACCOUNTED FOR 3 CASES (<1%)
• Asian / Hispanic males accounted for 3 of the 3 cases (100%).
We know who commits the crime in America (just Google: Gang database racist). It would take our elected officials one week to unleash the police in these cities and arrest all of the gangs—like Nayib Bukele has done in El Salvador —and life would be better for all citizens of every racial group.
But they won’t. Why?
New report offers insight on repeat offenders across metro Atlanta, WSB-TV, May 8, 2023
The Southern Center for Human Rights sent the following statement to Channel 2 regarding the commission:
“This recent report from the Atlanta Police Foundation about its ‘Repeat Offender Commission,’ which recycles the tactics of failed past initiatives, is disheartening. The only non-government, non-law enforcement groups consulted represent well-funded entities in Buckhead and Midtown, which demonstrates our government’s violent efforts to further stratify Atlanta by race and class. The overwhelming majority of people dehumanized as ‘repeat offenders’ in this program are Black. Moreover, despite claims that the program is focused on physical violence, the largest share of people bearing the pejorative label are charged with drug offenses. Further, the study is devoid of any analysis aimed at preventing gun violence in the city and instead focuses on after-the-fact years-long prosecution. By bullying judges and defendants, DA Willis and the Atlanta Police Foundation infringe on constitutional protections and will undoubtedly complicate re-entry for people impacted by the criminal legal system. “
You can have civilization or the lawlessness of today, where police are forced to stand down to ensure that equity and human rights flourish.
