Susan wrote in yesterday with this eyewitness report…
Any idea what all the police activity was right after noon on Ponce between Glendale and Sycamore? It’s a rare day when I see at least 6 cop cars (some unmarked) and cops on foot running in Decatur. When they began to head my way up the hill toward Glenn/Mountain View/ Sycamore, I decided I could walk the dog another time and we went back in the house. It was as if they’d formed a perimeter around the block on the chance someone they wanted was inside. It was lively. And weird. I had to go out for a while and when I returned everything was back to normal. I wonder if this means they got the person(s) in question or if he/she slipped away.
Deputy Chief Keith Lee fills us in as to what caused the event…
We received a report of a possible burglary on Sycamore Street by a neighbor. Officers who responded located several males who fled from the officers. Three males were detained, but one was later released. We are still investigating the other two males’ involvement in the attempted burglary of a residence.
“It was as if they’d formed a perimeter around the block on the chance someone they wanted was inside.”
That’s pretty much standard procedure in such cases. As you can see from DC Lee’s report, it worked.
Dang, what is it with Sycamore Street? It’s such a beautiful, quiet street — but a friend of mine who lives there has had her house burglarized twice in the last few years. I’m guessing this kind of activity is anomalous, though.
Well, there’s MARTA stations for get-aways on both ends of the street.
Really? You think that standing on a MARTA train platform for 15 minutes with a stolen flat screen TV qualifies as a quality getaway method? Sounds unlikely to me. I’m guessing cars are the preferred getaway tool when stealing home electronics and such. I don’t have any stats to back that — just a hunch.
There goes that MARTA rap again ! Don’t you see people on MARTA trains all the time with flat-screens and silver chests? OF COURSE NOT ! The presence of MARTA has nothing to do with crime rates. Just ask the people in Gwinnett County who fought MARTA for so long and now have the crime anyway.
And no way to get around…
Actually, when Gwinnett finally got some public transportation, in the form of Gwinnett Transit, it was overwhelmed. They had to add routes and more buses to keep up the demand. And, check the tags sometime at the Doraville MARTA station parking lot – you’ll find a lot of Gwinnett tags, for which they get a “free ride” since Gwinnett doesn’t pay the extra penny MARTA sales tax.
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Ah, man! When are folks going to realize that perps don’t need to take MARTA–they steal their own vehicle! The ever increasing train waits and disappearing bus routes are no more convenient for perps than for law-abiding commuters. This bizarre belief that MARTA will bring new crime into a neighborhod is similar to the belief that sidewalks will do the same. I’m still waiting for a perp to scooter up to my doorstep to conduct an armed robbery.
Forsyth County is ready when you are.
Marta is one of the worst getaways; they can simply stop the train.
Any description of the perps?
I don’t equate MARTA and crime, but I will note that yesterday when the police fanned out, the ones I saw headed in the direction of the Avondale station. One sat at Glenn and Ponce, and two were at Sycamore and Ponce with another one just down Sycamore standing on the sidewalk leading onto the MARTA property. I know flat screens are all the rage these days, but maybe there is still a market for small things like jewelry or cash or even prescription drugs. All small things, and easy to carry. I have no idea what these guys might have been after or how they got to Sycamore Street. All I know is that I was standing there like a fool watching all this activity until the part of my brain that keeps me alive nudged me that it wasn’t a movie, and maybe it was a good idea for me to “move along.” (No, no one said that to me, but with all this police talk I just couldn’t resist.) 🙂
Maybe the cops were at MARTA because that is what is at the end of Sycamore…”just saying”!
I’ve personally never heard of a drive-by done from the window of a bus. Just sayin’.
Repeatedly equating MARTA presence and customers with criminal activity is sooooooo tiresome. I ride MARTA all the time and I see people with their lunch sacks, iPods, dressed for work, carrying backpacks full of books, mothers with children and some in strollers, handicapped and elderly folks — just NORMAL PEOPLE. I have never in all of my almost 70 years seen anyone carrying anything on a bus or subway that even remotely looks like a TV or other desirable theft items. Where does all of this fear factor come from? Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
tired of this MARTA bashing! Yeah, go look at the license plates in the MARTA parking lots near the perimeter. And don’t forget to beg for a ride or take a $40 taxi ride the next time you go to the airport!
I was going to jump on JoeBlow’s comment but dang if he doesn’t have a point. It’s not like MARTA is the vector for criminal activity but the corridor between the two stations flanked by the busy Ponce thouroghfare provides cover for would-be burglars to case the homes on that particular block. A stranger walking along Sycamore is just not going to arouse the same suspicion as a stranger walking along Glenn Circle. Geez, I just made a point for gated communities and against public transport. I feel so dirty…
“a stranger walking” … how SCARY that image is! If a stranger drives by in a CAR, it wouldn’t be SCARY!
We had a break-in (on Sycamore) a few years ago, and our police detective specifically said the MARTA and DeVry foot traffic was a big problem because perps had plenty of opportunity to case houses. Our house was obviously cased because the break-in occurred during the couple of hours I was gone to work between 9-11 a.m. DeVry is no longer an issue though!
You can’t case houses in a neighborhood from a car?
Of course. But the repetition of walking to class day after day after day, getting to know the neighborhood and seeing people coming in and out of doors, makes casing much easier! Our perp more than likely walked away, given he emptied my husband’s large soccer duffel and proceeded to stuff whatever he could into it, and didn’t take anything bigger.
there was a problem a few summers ago where cars parked on streets that ran from ponce to w howard in the lenox place neighborhood were getting broken into. after talking to a decatur cop one day about it, i was told they believed the smash and grabs were people getting off the bus at ponce/drexel and walking up the street checking door handles on the way to w howard then then the bus stops/ east lake train station. they only grabbed items small enough to put in backpacks and kept walking. If i remember correctly they may have caught one of them.