Please keep us abreast on what you are seeing around the neighborhood...

#1: A friend of mine told me a funny story about an attempted mugging back in about 1987. He was still living in Dublin (or Duuuuh-blin as he would say in his Middle Georgia accent) but would often come to Atlanta and stay with a friend who lived on Myrtle Street at the time. Being the country guy he was at the time, he carried a miniature Gideons bible in his pocket, like a good-luck charm. One night two thugs approached him somewhere rather dark between the Armory and Myrtle & 8th and demanded the usual things at knife point – his money, etc. He pulled that little bible out of his pocket and told the thugs that all he had was that little bible, and that he would love for them to have it and read it. Instantly they bolted and did not look back. My friend lost nothing.

#2 – Yes, we track those known to have frequented the neighborhood: This e-mail is sent from the Indiana Department of Correction Indiana SAVIN program. You have registered to receive updates about the status of AMANDA L DAVIS, Offender ID: 182880. This e-mail has been sent to notify you that this offender was transferred from the Indianapolis Parole District to the Marion County Jail on 4/29/2012. [Separate Notice] This e-mail has been sent to notify you that this offender was transferred from the Marion County Jail to the Department of Correction on 5/10/2012.

#3 – Response to last week’s mailbag item: I cannot believe that someone wants to remove the tree wells because criminals find them convenient. Do they honestly believe that if the Trees Atlanta and The City pay someone to chip away the concrete the drug dealers are going to go away? The curbs are there to keep the dirt from eroding during heavy rains, as Boulevard/Monroe water depths can get multiple inches deep during a severe downpour (the run-off from which can flood our area of Midtown if the storm drains are clogged), as well as to keep vehicles from willy-nilly driving over the tree roots. And, the broken window theory suggests the nicer the area, the more looked after and cared for, the more of a signal it sends to the criminal element. I’ve been delighted to see some sort of streetscape improvement in the area, and look forward to more coming down Ponce in the next year or two with the pending implementation of the Ponce-Moreland Corridor Plan. The area has been a blighted wasteland for years – thriving trees are but one step in many to reclaim the corridor’s lost vitality from decades’ past.

We find it interesting to note, that since the patrol works most of its hours on weekdays, residential burglaries are way down from what they used to be. So far this year (Jan 1 to May 13th) there have only been two burglaries in the service area, and there is hope that one or both of those could turn out to be technicalities. We used to see 3-6 counts on average – per month! Besides car break-ins, residential burglaries posed our greatest vulnerability.

The most dangerous crime, however, is pedestrian robberies. These typically occur in the late evening and wee hours of the morning. That, however, is a different story and we are still studying some unsettling statistics for year-to-date. For now, please be cautious and stay aware of your surroundings when walking late at night…

Notables from the patrol logs

• 4/02/2012: Sgt Cooper assisted an APD Auto Theft Task Force Vehicle Checkpoint at North and Argonne, where they arrested three subjects in a vehicle reported stolen.
• 4/04/2012: Sgt Cooper responded to a Neighborhood complaint regarding an abandoned car. The vehicle was towed as the tag was suspended and it had no insurance.
• 4/05/2012: The patrol arrested two men for posting handbills on vehicles on Greenwood Avenue.
• 4/06/2012: MPSA Patrol officer assisted Midtown Blue as they made two important arrests for breaking into cars in Midtown.
• 4/06/2012: Criminal Trespass arrest – the subject generates chronic reports for various nuisance activity.
• 4/09/2012: Sgt Cooper worked with the folks from FBAC (the Va-Hi security folks) regarding vagrant issues in a bamboo patch along the Beltline.
• 4/13/2012: Vagrant arrested for Disorderly Conduct (under the influence).
• 4/18/2012: Sgt Cooper responded to a member complaint regarding garbage in the alley behind Penn Avenue. The city was notified and cleaned up the garbage the next day.
• 4/18/2012: An individual generating chronic (petty) complaints in the neighborhood arrested for criminal trespass
• 4/23/2012: Sgt Cooper assisted with traffic control at a housefire on 5th Street.
• 4/27/2012: – MPSA Patrol officers responded to a vagrant complaint on Monroe.

About the same time we received a report from another Midtowner in an unrelated incident with this individual:

I am on my way out of town today, but I wanted to mention I had an encounter with the parking lot scammer in the parking garage at Publix Midtown (950 W. Peachtree) yesterday evening, about 6pm. It was the same older black man — thin, tall, gray hair kind of grizzled — in baseball cap, with the accent. I came out of the store, started my car (Tahoe) and the shifter was all loose and wouldn’t engage. As I sat there, the guy appeared next to my car, came around to driver’s side and was very insistent to help: “I see your shift isn’t working. It’s a simple fix, I can help, I just need to get in there.” (not sure if he meant in the car or under the hood). I said no, that my husband was coming out of the store. The man walked away and I got out of the car to go back into the store. I saw him go towards the store and then veer away and wander back in the parking garage. By the time I found the security guard in the store and went back out, about 10 minutes, the man was gone, and my car worked. Apparently, he circled around and fixed it and got out while I was back in the store.

Member-contributed field photos:

Source: Fulton County Sheriff Dept.

On April 29th, a beat officer conducted a routine spot check in the parking area by Park Tavern due to frequent reports of car break-ins at that location. He observed a suspicious subject leaning on a vehicle with a metal object trying to place it under a door handle, as if attempting to pry it open (a common modus operandi according to the officer).

When approached by the officer, the subject initially gave a false name but careful fact-checking on the part of the officer yielded his correct name and that the name given was an alias previously used by this individual. The officer then placed the individual under arrest for giving false information, and during the pat-down, the officer also found a screwdriver, a spark plug, and a small bag of Marijuana in his possession. Lee Arthur Kynard was placed under arrest and booked into the Fulton County jail. According to Fulton County jail records, the list of charges include giving false information to a law enforcement officer, loitering/prowling, and possession of a controlled substance. According to police sources, Kynard is a known car break-in suspect and our research turns up several bookings consistent with this statement.

As an aside, street criminals often use spark plugs to break into cars. Something about the physical qualities of the porcelain make the glass shatter easily and relatively quietly. They typically put the spark plug in a panty hose stocking so that they can easily pull it out of their pocket, strike the window, and recoil it again and stick it back into their pocket as they proceed to loot the vehicle.

The suspect then opened the drawer just above the register and grabbed the victim’s wallet. The wallet was at the front of the drawer on top of the other papers inside. The suspect took the wallet, and both males ran from the business. According to the police report, the victim described the wallet as a black and gray Louis Vitton Damier Graphite wallet, valued at $300, and contained a debit card, driver’s license, loyalty cards and miscellaneous papers.

Only the owner has access to the footage of the security cameras, but he is out of the country at this time. Crime scene investigators dusted a rough-textured table where the suspects spent time while waiting off the rain, but found none.
A canvass of the area by several police units did not turn up any of the suspects.

Suspect descriptions:

#1: young black male, 18 to 20 years of age, very thin build, low hair, red track-style pants, white shoes, and a tight fitting tank top, with perhaps a three-day beard. It appeared to the victim that this suspect couldn’t grow very much facial hair given his age.

#2: Also a young black male, 18 to 20 years of age, low hair, wearing a faded black or gray shirt, and blue jeans.

Door hanger appearing in District 2

[Community correspondence from Councilman Kwanza Hall] District 2′s Boulevard corridor is the place to be this Saturday, May 19! Join Councilmember Kwanza Hall at 9 am at Fort Street United Methodist Church (562 Boulevard NE 30308) for our spring Year of Boulevard community cleanup. We’ll start the morning with socializing over coffee, juice, and Sublime Doughnuts (Sublime’s A-Town doughnut is the official doughnut of all District 2 community cleanups!). Then, we’ll gather on Boulevard (yes, literally, on Boulevard!) so that Kwanza can administer the Year of Boulevard pledge to everyone. Kwanza and TEDxAtlanta will present $20,000 checks to two nonprofit organizations offering summer camps for nearly 200 of the neighborhood’s underserved kids and teens: Operation P.E.A.C.E. and Truly Living Well Urban Farm. Then, we will head out along the corridor to pick up trash, wield weed whackers, and remove graffiti.

Year of Boulevard is an initiative of Councilman Kwanza Hall

We wish to give a shout-out for Summer of Possibility, a summer camp program for disadvantaged children and youth in the Boulevard area. Until the middle of the month, TEDxAtlanta is seeking to raise $100,000 for the Summer of Possibility, and $110 will sponsor one week of summer camp for one of these kids that will, as they describe it, usher in years of positive change for the Boulevard corridor by exposing these kids to new ideas, new opportunities, and new ways of seeing the world.

As we know, the Boulevard area has been ground zero for rampant drug activity and street crime. But targeting and eliminating crime is by no means enough – something needs to address the dire lack of good influences for the many children and youths living in that area. We strongly feel that this program helps greatly to bring these kids the good influences so they will flourish later in life. Good influences like this go a long way to build healthy and thriving communities. They are the future of the Boulevard corridor.

Their goal is to have scholarships in place for the kids of Boulevard when their school year ends mid-May. We encourage support for this effort, and please mention “encouraged by MPSA” in the memo line when possible.

Related weblinks

• Summer of Possibility: http://tedxatlanta.com/wish/
• East Atlanta Patch: Help Open A Summer Of Possibility For Boulevard Youth 

Vindictive panhandler – On the evening of Saturday April 7 just before 9pm my wife and I arrived at [the grocery store] to shop. We parked our car against the building [and then] went in but I returned alone several minutes later to the vehicle to get our shopping list that we forgot. While walking to the car a man [loitering] in front of the store called out to me, “got any spare change?” I replied accurately,”no change”, as we use credit cards and I walked to my car. He saw me go around the corner of the building as my car was parked right at the corner of the building. He heard as I locked the car as the sentry key causes the horn to sound. At approximately 9:02 pm the man vandalized my car by very aggressively and deeply “keying” the drivers door in retribution for my not giving him money.

We went and reported this to the manager. The manager was kind enough to replay the security camera video. Our car was parked in such a manner that you could not see the back of the car but not the driver’s side door. However, you could see at approx 9:02 on the security video the shadow of the man move away from my car and walk across the parking lot toward the adjacent property.

It was dark out, and poorly lit where he was sitting. He was African-American and late middle-aged and wearing dark clothes and a ball cap. I have seen him [around before]. Shoppers should beware of this man and be concerned if he speaks to them as he may engage in retributive action if he does not receive money from them. – Concerned Midtown Neighbor

MPSA NOTE: We have heard similar stories about panhandlers at nearly all area grocery stores that Midtowners shop the most – along Ponce, Ansley, etc. It is rare that we hear about keying, but street people can get ugly. When approached by panhandlers just politely and respectfully decline. Then report them immediately to security agents working at the given store, or to management/customer service.

Kids up to no good – At approximately 4:45pm a group of three (apparently) teenagers came walking along the alley, past my place, and huddled behind the Children’s school. In this particular instance it was three young black males with bookbags and backpacks. As they disappeared behind the Children’s School I stepped out into the alley to see that they had stopped behind the Children’s School. They looked over at me, and then left by cutting through the property of 371 10th Street. No gestures or exchange of words occurred as they simply left. I strongly suspect they are seeking out a place to engage in some kind of recreational drug use. This pattern seems to coincide with the start and the end of the school day at Grady High School. My neighbors and I have seen this during the 8am hour when school starts, and during the 3pm-5pm time period when they leave school. I have seen a pattern of teenagers coming into our alley in recent weeks coming from behind the Children’s School. They are too old to be students of this private school, and access to the alleyway is difficult and inconvenient coming from the west. Access is sealed off behind all lots of the Children’s school, so they are coming from Taft or by cutting through private property (and then head back out via one of these routes). The mouth of the alley is on the west side of Taft Avenue between 9th & 10th Streets, and head of the alley is behind the Children’s School (but does not extend all the way to Argonne). The route is clearly not a practical shortcut for anything except directly to one of the residences along the alley itself.

Tree wells facilitate loitering – As you are aware, a good bit of nuisance loitering goes on at Ponce & Boulevard. Based on my frequent observation of this intersection, I am finding that the 7-inch tree wells around several trees there contribute greatly to drug activity and loitering going on at that spot. For well over a year, the same boys loiter there day and night dealing drugs. The one thing that keeps them there the most are those tree wells that they sit on. One of them, Andrew Samples, has been arrested for drug offenses several times. I am not aware of any other trees in the neighborhood with such high tree wells, and it would contribute greatly to the improvement of the area to have them removed so that there is nothing to sit on. What can be done to have them removed?

Courtesy: Gwinnett Sheriff Department

One of our chronic criminals, Andrew Arnett, continues to live a life of crime. While it may seem like good news that his latest arrest for burglary took place in Gwinnett County, we believe that the proceeds from this incident would have found their way to the Ponce & Boulevard area in the form of drug activity. Therefore we sent a community impact statement (linked below) to the Gwinnett DA’s office to share our insights about this individual.

Time and again, Arnett has engaged in criminal activity in Midtown and other surrounding neighborhoods. This classic example of a revolving-door recidivst who plays the system has blatantly defied a judicial banishment from Ponce. Time and again the courts in Fulton County have sentenced him lightly and mandated rehabilitation for the drug addiction underlying his devotion to a criminal way of life – to no avail. The kind of ongoing criminal way of life that Mr. Arnett demonstrates helps to undermine the stability and morale of any community in which he is present.

We are uncertain of where the case stands at this point, but we believe that he stands a better chance of receiving an overdue period of incarceration in Gwinnett County than in Fulton County. Once his case in Gwinnett is resolved, he has outstanding cases in Fulton County which we plan to monitor. In the coming months we plan to escalate our use of community impact statements, letters to the parole board, and the like. We seek to make it clear that criminal activity has no place in our vision of Ponce and the rest of Midtown.

Relevant links:

• MPSA: Community Impact Statement: Andrew Arnett
• CBS Atlanta: Store manager helps police catch robbery suspects
• WSB-TV: Storage facility manager helps police catch burglars in the act

Entering an automobile with the intent to commit a theft or felony is classified under the Georgia Criminal Code as a felony and carries a liability of up to five years incarceration. The criminal code also provides for enhanced sentencing as a recidivist offender for criminals like Mr. Hooks.

Mugshots courtesy of the Fulton Co. Sheriff Department