Decatur Police Alert: Two Sets of Suspects Flee From Police, Burglary on East Lake Drive
Decatur Metro | July 10, 2013At this point, you know what these are and where they come from. From Sgt. Jennifer Ross…
On Monday, July 8, 2013 at approximately 3pm, a Decatur officer in an unmarked vehicle observed a dark grey Dodge Ram pick-up being driven by a black male in his mid-teens backing into a driveway in the 300 block of Second Avenue. The officer circled back to check on the vehicle and residence due to recent burglaries and the vehicle was gone. While checking the residence, which was secured with no signs of a break-in, the officer observed the vehicle drive back by and flee the area at a high rate of speed upon seeing the officer. A pursuit was not initiated. It was determined a vehicle fitting that description had recently been reported stolen to the DeKalb County Police Department. A grey 2005 Dodge Ram 1500 displaying GA tag #BTP0473, with a large gold “GT” logo sticker on the center of the tailgate. The house and driveway were not obscured and there was a very vocal dog inside of the house.
At approximately 7pm, a caller reported arriving home in the 200 block of East Lake Drive and hearing a faint audible alarm that he found was coming from his neighbor’s house. Officers discovered the rear French doors forced open and a large television missing. The rear driveway was obscured by the house. The owners have a dog that was not home at the time.
On Tuesday, July 9, 2013 at approximately 11:20 pm, a Decatur officer was stationary in the rear of the new neighborhood on Clarke Hill Street off Midway Road when he observed a green Hyundai Santa Fe occupied by two black males who appeared to be in their mid-late teens entering the complex. They abruptly fled the area upon seeing the police. A pursuit was not initiated. Officers located the vehicle crashed and unoccupied on a nearby side street. The vehicle was previously reported stolen to the DeKalb County Police Department.
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While I appreciate the fact that the police are avoiding high speed chases through our neighborhoods, why didn’t the officer who spotted the Dodge Ram not pull into the driveway and block the truck’s exit. If it was suspicoius enough to warrant driving back around the block, it was suspicous enough to stop and check it out.
Hopefully thet get some prints from these cars. The thugs may not be in the system yet, but they will be and the more cries we can tie them to, the better.
I’m not an expert on criminal law, but wouldn’t the officer need reasonable suspicion of a crime to justify actually blocking the truck? Reasonable suspicion can’t be “saw young black dude in truck,” without more.
He clearly thought something was out of place or he wouldn’t have circled back. I am assuming there was more to it than “young black dude in truck”. If everything is on the up and up, he moves the car.
“Reasonable suspicion can’t be “saw young black dude in truck,” without more.”
Um yes it can, that is who has been doing all the crimes in the area. What problem would it have been to pull in the drive way and check things out? Wow.
So are the police supposed to block every truck they see backing into a driveway in Decatur?
Not all the trucks, just the ones driven by black kids, it seems.
I get that all of the perps thus far are black. That doesn’t mean that blackness = reasonable suspicion of criminality.
The blurb above says the officer initially observed him backing into a driveway, nothing more. That’s not reasonable suspicion of a crime, though it may well have been worth a second drive-by, as the officer did. It sounds to me like DPD handled this one correctly.
Given what has been going on lately it would have been completely reasonable and proper for the policeman to pull up, block the driveway walk up to the person and “let them know” that there have been lots of burglaries in the area recently and ask the person “since you are around the neighborhood in the middle of the day, have you seen anything suspicious, would you keep an eye out? And remind them to be careful because of recent events.”
Noone is saying “blackness = reasonable suspicion of criminality”. Numerous factors contribute to the suspicion. Given the recent crimes, age and race are 2 of them. Most people don’t back into their driveway, so I am sure that was a factor. The time of day was a factor. Maybe observed behavior was a factor. I wasn’t there, and I don’t know. But, I am quiet confident in relying on the experience and instict of the police officer.
We are almost at the point at a society (if we aren’t already there) where political correctness is actually enabling criminals. Young black males are committing serious crimes in our neighborhood. But, you seem to think it is inappropriate for the police to be on the lookout for young black males. The police aren’t looking for them b/c they are black – they are on the lookout b/c that is the description of those committing these crimes.
You might be the ony person in history to have suggested that I am being politically correct about anything! It is one thing to be “on the lookout” — I am perfectly OK with that — and another to actually detain a person by blocking in theor car as they are trying to exit a driveway. I’m not OK with that unless there reasonable suspicion.
This came up at the Oakhurst Neighborhood meeting…the officer frequently walks by that house since the officer lives in the neighborhood and knows that the residents of that particular house did not own a Dodge Ram pickup so that is why the officer found it suspicious. It was not just seeing a young black male driver
Serious question since nothing on Earth seems to look at all suspicious to you.
brianc is walking his dog down the street and sees 4 teenagers jump out of a car at his neighbor’s house. A moment later he sees them walking out with a flat screen and some laptops. Does he think something is up and alerts the police, or does he just keep walking because he thinks that maybe they’re getting help moving out, and just forgot to mention they were moving?
With or without guns?
She just didn’t circle around quickly enough. I’m guessing she would have blocked the driveway had it still been there. Just a case of bad timing and perhaps she was calling for backup while circling the block once. She had more than enough reason for suspicion because it was in her own neighborhood, on her own walking route, and in a familiar driveway that she had never seen the truck before. The officer told this story at the ONA meeting, that’s how I’m able to expand a bit on the details.
You’ve got to be kidding me. Blaming DPD? Maybe you should get a badge if you have all the answers.
Not at all – the blame lies solely with the criminals. And I am happy the police are deterring these crimes and probably many more that aren’t made public. But, I wish this situation was handled differently.
bummer…thought we were done
The reality is that the types of breaks-ins described above happen all of the time in Decatur – before and after this recent “crime wave.” It was the armed robberies, and the brazenness of these particular recent occurrences, that had everyone most concerned. Not sure if these incidents are related to the armed robbery attempts or not.
Fairly recently it was the car break-ins and catalytic converter thefts, wasn’t it? Speaking of those, a week or so ago my wife and I were sitting on the patio at Hola and an extremely loud Honda Element drove by on Church. I looked up and said, a bit too loudly, “their catalytic converter got stolen!” A few people looked at me with odd expressions. I wanted to say “Hey, I read about it on Decatur Metro!”
That may have been me. And if so, you were correct….
Sorry to hear that, Walrus. (no pun intended).
The annual list of “most stolen vehicles” has been making the news rounds this week, and it was all trucks and SUVS (the F-250 topped it). Since the list actually doesn’t distinguish between “stolen” and “stolen from,” I assumed all the trucks were there because they are often easy targets for equipment thieves. Now I’m wondering if it isn’t because they are being used for burglaries and smash-and-grabs.
We own a dark grey dodge truck, with racks on top and no GT sticker. Not all grey dodge trucks are your enemy! Our truck was stolen a few years ago in Candler Park and when we recovered it (missing catalytic converter plus other damage) we were told that it had been used for burglaries. The truck had been abandoned and most of our things were missing from it but some random bits of other people’s property were still in it when the police gave it back. APD said trucks like ours were targets for this activity.
I did tell Mr. Sharpie that everyone will be giving him the stink eye around town now.
I was told by a friend today that there was an attempted break in on Garland St. this morning. Can anyone confirm this? Same friend was told by the officer that a red van was linked to this break in and she witnessed a red van driving slowly down Maxwell and 3rd a few minutes after talking with the officer. She called it into the police with the tag number and description of driver.
Potential good news here? http://www.ajc.com/news/news/police-trying-to-curb-crime-may-have-nabbed-crimin/nYm5j/
From the The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
“DeKalb County police say they recovered a [red] stolen van Thursday after a routine traffic stop turned into a chase.”
(I added the [red] description based on the crime scene photos in the article.)
interesting, this area is in Atl and policed by APD but its good to see the county stepping up and bringing their resources, would like to see this in Dec too..another article said they made arrests ref other crimes in EAV
Too bad that when CPD does something right and actually prevents a burglary we can’t give kudos but instead are questioning why they didn’t do it better.
Great job Sgt Ross! From the round of applause at ONA, many of us appreciate your effort. Now stop reading DM and catch, or at least chase away, more bad guys.
Kudos for stopping crimes in progress.
Those get chocolate covered if you actually make an arrest.
That explains why I got the once over by Decatur’s finest when I backed quickly into my own driveway on EL this afternoon! The squad car passed the drive slowly and then backed up to see who got out of the car. I was glad to see them even tho they didn’t offer to help carry groceries!
Way to go, Decatur police!! Stay diligent! Keeping us updated on the progress brings comfort to the community! Thank you!
It’s a relief to see that no shots were fired by the perpetrators in these instances. The crashes are worrisome–other vehicles or pedestrians/cyclists are at risk.
IMHO it’s a huge positive step that police are having a presence at many of these crimes, even if they are crimes that have been occurring all along even before this particular crime spree. The word will get out that the police are showing up quickly, often before crimes are completed. My understanding of eliminating violence in urban areas is that, to stop the big and violent crimes, you have to attack the more mundane and common crimes too. Criminals/gangs feel more comfortable in an area with lots of petty crime, less so in an area with little crime, especially if there’s a routine police presence and active community members that watch out for one another. Stopping the more common, routine crimes prevents worse crime.
The young perps will get the idea or get caught if they don’t. Among more knowledgeable perps (if you can call a criminal “knowledgeable”) DPD has the reputation of “officers jumping out of the trunk” dues to the rapid response time of multiple units.
I can vouch for that… a few years ago, I got pulled over for an expired tag. Within 1 minute, I was surrounded by 4 police cars.
That taught me:
1) we have a responsive police force that works as a team,
2) we (used to) live in an area without allot of serious crime,
3) To make sure I remember to put the sticker on my license plate.
I’m inferring from your comment that you think being surrounded by police over an expired tag is a good thing. Why?
Many times, a minor traffic violation can turn up something more serious and the officers don’t know that until they start checking. Why do you have a problem with multiple officers responding?
Seems like a waste of manpower to me…not to mention pretty unsettling for a motorist who may not even be aware of the expired tag.
Seems like good police work to me. And, meant to be unsettling to a person that may have a problem with the police,
We”ll just have to agree to disagree. Plenty of people who don’t “have a problem with police” would be upset by being surrounded over an insignificant traffic violation. My wife breaks into tears when she gets pulled over by one officer for a taillight outage or whatever.
Have you attended the Citizen’s Police Academy? If not, perhaps you should in order to find out what DPD does and how and why they do it.
I’m with you on this Brianc (crazy right!). I see this a lot and I always think that at least two of the other officers can be out doing more productive things than that. Suggesting that its a practical practice to have four police officers on the scene of every minor violation because it MAY lead to trouble seems a bit silly.
Lately, I’ve discovered what it must feel like to be you and DEM on this site.
Agreed.
The additional officers respond if there are not more pressing issues. If there are other calls, they don’t take off to come to that traffic stop. Typically, the additional officers don’t stay more than a few minutes if there is no reason to. However, if there is something besides a minor traffic violation the original officer (and you and I) is glad to have backup standing right there.
My understanding is that ridding a community of serious and violent crime requires that even minor crimes and traffic violations be systematically addressed. Criminals/gangs don’t like to follow any laws and don’t drive well so they feel more comfortable in an environment of lax law enforcement and lots of petty crime. The trick is to ramp up law enforcement presence and reduction of petty crime and traffic violations without impinging on civil liberties, e.g. profiling. It’s probably a real fine line and that’s why posters here are disagreeing over where the line is drawn.
I admit that when it happened to me, it felt a bit off-putting and militant.
But on reflection, I believe it is a best practice to have officers back up each other when involved in a traffic stop if they are not otherwise involved in something else. It makes it safer for the initiating officer to have back up, sends a strong signal to potential criminals and strengthens cohesion of the police department when they work as a team.
And it is not an excessive use of resources, given the additional police will move on once the initiating officer gives the all clear.
Seems like a waste of manpower to me…not to mention pretty unsettling for a motorist who may not even be aware of the expired tag.
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+1.
Some of the police worship witnessed around here is mind-boggling.
It was my house that the assumed attempted break in happened on Garland today. A red sedan driven by at least one black male backed into my driveway while I was at work. Luckily, my awesome neighbors were on their porch. They called me to make sure I wasn’t expecting anyone, then called the police, then went out in their yard and took pictures of the car. The man saw her taking pictures and took off. The police were very prompt and helpful. Great neighbors are a great thing!
+1000 on great neighbors!
Do they know the kind of red sedan? I saw a red Pontiac in my neighborhood (Belvedere Park) this morning that I had not seen before. I noticed it because July 2nd evening I saw a similar vehicle parked between my across-the-street-neighbors’ property line. One of those neighbors noticed it too but were unable to get confirmation that they were not visiting the other neighbor. They sat out for there for about five minutes with lights on.
Did you or your neighbors report it?
I have to give a huge shoutout to the DPD for their response time. I was sitting on my front porch late Sunday afternoon with my large puppy, and was approached by two kids on bike, one on foot, asking about lawn car services and dog walking. I turned both down.
These kids met the description of some of the recent suspects, so someone down the street called the DPD. Within 2 minutes there were three police cars out front. The DP took the bike, as it was suspected as being stolen. My neighbors across the way hard heard some noises minutes before, and when they investigated noticed that some of their outdoor belongings had been moved. They declined to press charges, but were given the opportunity.
I have always had great experiences with the DPD, and when we did have a mixup about jurisdiction (COD v. Dekalb County–we live on the edge of the City), the Chief himself phoned me to make sure everything was resolved.
Unfortunately, there is a fine line that police have to walk with respect to “probable cause” and to avoid any type of profiling. I think our finest do a good job of doing so.
This apprehension happened today with Dekalb PD. The evidence should help connect the dots.
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/dekalb-police-pursuit-ends-crash-moreland-ave/nYm2z/
And following the advice to record all serial numbers for electronics in your home, I used my phone take a series of pictures of the TVs/laptops, etc. followed by each of the serial decals affixed to the back or the “About screen” in settings that shows the serial number. The album is then saved in the cloud.