Over 80 Auto Thefts in the Capitol View and Sylvan Hills Neighborhoods

Frustrated residents in the Capitol View and Sylvan Hills neighborhoods are fed up with criminals coming in on nearly a daily basis to steal their cars, and damage their property.

According to police reports, there have been over 80 auto thefts alone, in the past three months.  This does not include the reports of car break-ins and home break-ins that residents say happen almost every night. 

A Channel 2 report says that in December, "there have been 43 home burglaries in just the two neighborhoods."  In the same report the neighborhood's city council representative, Joyce Sheperd, said she has talked to Mayor Kasim Reed about the problem and that she intends to hold a neighborhood meeting on this issue later in the month.  "Enough is enough," the councilwoman is quoted as saying.

Atlanta Police are proud that overall the crime rate is down, but they too are concerned about the spike of larceny crimes in the neighborhoods.  They have admitted that, "thefts more than doubled for the month of December in the Capitol View and Sylvan Hills neighborhoods, compared to the same month in 2011."  But a solution has yet to been found. 

According to a different Channel 2 report, "Lt. Michael O'Connor with Atlanta police's auto theft task force said investigators are taking steps to deal with the problem."  The officer is quoted as saying, "We've had some issues with older model vehicles being stolen. We believe some of that is for profit, either to chop the vehicles up or to have the vehicles recycled,"  O’Conner said.

Capitol View has a neighborhood Security Alliance that works to try to self-police the neighborhood, but is able to only make a dent in deterring crime in the area.  Join the Capitol View Security Alliance Facebook page to stay up-to-date with this neighborhood specifically.  In today's post already, you will see that there was a home broken into just last night.