Crime & Safety

New Dunwoody PD Report Looks Back on a Busy 2010

New report gives a look at the overall crime stats for the city of Dunwoody in the department's first year and nine months

Most police departments can take crime stats from a year, and then dig into the data from past years, to get a good measurement for which crimes are on the rise, which policing techniques are working well and how these crime rates stack up historically.

That isn’t so easy for the Dunwoody Police Department.

In their newly released 2010 department report, they have a year and nine months of crime data – the department launched in April 2009.

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“2010 was the first year the department had a full year of UCR crime stats to report, so comparisons to 2009 are somewhat difficult,” the report says.

Still, the 2010 report offers insight into what the Dunwoody Police are dealing with on a day to day basis, as well as the challenges and initiatives taken on by the department last year. (For more on the numbers see the attached report.)

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A Challenging Year

Last year, Dunwoody was hit with major crime; 2010 saw four murder cases in the city.

There was the well-documented cases of the shooting outside of Dunwoody Prep pre-school in November, the double homicide/arson on Peeler Road which killed Roger and Dorothy Abbott in mid-July and the murder of Jose Ignacio Escobedo, who was killed at an apartment complex on Winter’s Chapel Road on July 13, 2010.

“Between July 1 and Nov. 18 we had to deal with three separate homicide calls resulting in four deaths,” Grogan said. “When you have a small detective unit, that can put a lot of strain and stress on a unit. We found, through the whole process, that we’ve got a great team here.”

The cases have proved difficult.

“Every homicide case is so different,” Grogan said. “You kind of, unfortunately, have to deal with the hand you are dealt, as far as evidence and the circumstances of the case.”

Rusty Sneiderman was shot and killed outside of Dunwoody Prep daycare on Nov. 18. Within two months, Police arrested Hemy Neuman for the crime.

“In the Sneiderman case, we were able to follow the evidence and make an arrest in that case,” he said.

Grogan pointed out that in the Abbott case, while there is a person of interest, the department has not been able to close in on an arrest.

“I can assure everyone we are doing everything we possibly can to make an arrest,” Grogan said.

The four homicides were a tough change after 2009, when there weren’t any.

“It’s something we hope we don’t have to go through again,” Grogan said.

 

Larcenies still at the top

Under the FBI’s heading, Part One crimes are eight serious crimes usually investigated by local police departments – those crimes are murder, rape, arson, robbery, aggravated assault, car theft, burglary and larceny/theft

For Dunwoody, the biggest part one crime again for the department was larceny and other property crimes.

Of 1,794 part one crimes, larceny made up 1,331 of them. Property crimes made up 94 percent of the part one crimes in 2010.

Grogan said the car break-ins are a high because of Dunwoody’s concentration of parking decks and lots, with both apartment buildings and office buildings, as well as retailers.

“When you have a lot of cars in one place, you get people who want to come through and break into a lot of cars,” he said. “It doesn’t help when people leave their valuables visible.”

Grogan said the department is looking for ways to crack down the crime, putting up signs reminding people to lock their vehicles and no leave valuables visible.

“Certainly larcenies are a big concern for us,” he said.

 

Alarms make up 13 percent of calls

Security alarms made up 13.3 percent of calls for service in 2010.

The department is drawing up an alarm ordinance with the help of citizens and, likely, in conjunction with other departments in the ChatComm area, to curb false alarm calls.

Many cities in the state and across the county have alarm ordinances that charge businesses for excessive false alarm calls.

Grogan said the department is currently writing an ordinance on the issue to be brought to the council.

 

Social Media

The Dunwoody Police Department has given a very strong focus on engaging through social media. 

“We certainly believe that working with the community and having good relationships and partnerships, we can get a lot more done,” Grogan said.

But while having citizens police academies and other local police community events can draw crowds of 20-40, the department's Twitter page has 2,259 followers and its Facebook pages reaches 1,051 people.

“Using social media is really community policing at an electronic level,” Grogan said.

The tools also allow the department to have another level of communication – giving updates on incidents, police activity and more.

“From an anecdotal standpoint, it proved to be a valuable tool,” he said.

Grogan has written about social media from a police viewpoint for national publications

 

Giving back

In 2010, the department raised $12,123 for Special Olympics Georgia through several events, including the Torch Run, the , and a Car Show.

They also raised $1,500 for the Jack and Jill Late Stage Cancer Foundation.

The department also put on events such as the toy drive.

 

A New year

Comparing the first six months of 2010 to the first six months of 2011, crime is down.

“We’re down about 5.5 percent in part one crimes from where we were last year,” Grogan said.

He said the department will continue to focus on community policing by establishing relationships with the public, both through events as well as social media.

So far this year, the department has expanded its social media outreach more, , and promoting contests, such as , to increase relationships with the community.


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