Norcross Police: Victim Calls in Robbery, Then Backs out of Report

The Norcross Police Department received another dose of unreported crime this week, which is one of the top problems the jurisdiction is facing.

This time was slightly different, though. According to Police Chief Warren Summers and Sgt. Bill Grogan, a Hispanic male dialed 911 around midnight Tuesday (June 11) and said three black men had robbed him. While at gunpoint, they took $50 from him.

Authorities attempted to meet with the victim, but they couldn't locate him.

"He gave an address off of Wexford Drive, which is right off Beaver Ruin Road, but it was a bad address," explained Grogan. "We were able to get [his] phone number from the 911 recording, but we've called it and just happened to leave voicemails. There's no voice on the other end."

"He said he got robbed, and I believed he got robbed," Summers said. "[But] essentially that's an armed robbery that's unreported because I have no facts, I have no victim, I have nothing."

This type of incident where a victim calls 911 to report a crime and then backs out of finishing the report isn't common in Norcross, but unreported crimes in general, especially among the Hispanic community, is something that consistently occurs in the city.

"Usually what happens is there will be a crime committed," said Grogan. "Then when the investigators or officers come and investigate it, they'll find ... various other crimes similar to these, and we were never told. It makes our job very difficult because you never know what you could have gotten if you were to investigate all those other ones."

Reported crimes are crucial for other reasons, too. For starters, they're Norcross residents being victimized, and also the information gives the department data and insight on where it's best to place officers and allocate resources. The information would be essential to have when the department starts using PredPol, a effective program that predicts crime by plugging in the type of crime, the location and time into an algorithm. The department plans to implement it in mid-July.

As mentioned last week on Norcross Patch, Summers believes the reason why the lack of reported crime among the Hispanic community is because of immigration status and their mistrust with police. But, to reiterate, the police chief isn't concerned about immigration status.

"We're just trying to get people to report to us," he said. "I'm not concerned about their immigration status, that's not my job."

He explained that naturalization, which is immigration, is the federal government's government's job and not the local police. Therefore, Summers believes it shouldn't be the responsibility or interest for the Norcross Police Department.

And they're doing many things to change that ideal, too. The department's recently hired three Spanish-speaking employees, totaling its number of foreign speakers to eight. Read more about how Norcross Police are reaching out to the Hispanic community here.

"There's an argument, I guess, of 'Hey, they need to learn to speak English. But I don't buy that because we're here to serve," the chief said. "If you don't communicate to that demographic, you're never going to get their trust."

"We really need this community to report and trust us," he added. "I'm really committed to doing this because it's 40 percent of the population. It's just got to be done."

See also:

• Police Chief: We're Taking Steps to Better Assist Hispanic Community
• Norcross Police Chief: 2012 Crime Stats Are 'New Normal'

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