Homicides were down by 21% in 2023, according to the Atlanta Police Department.
There were 135 homicides reported in the city last year compared to 171 homicides reported in 2022, according to APD data. Police also reported an 18% drop in shooting incidents and a 23% decrease in shooting victims in 2023 compared to 2022.
The numbers come as two homicides have been reported in Atlanta so far in 2024. A man was fatally stabbed this morning at the Five Points MARTA. On Jan. 2, three people were shot, one fatally, at 321 Ralph David Abernathy Blvd., in what police described as a “targeted” attack, according to media reports.
Mayor Andre Dickens and Police Chief Darin Schierbaum announced 2023’s “significant” reduction in violent crime during a Jan. 4 press conference at Salem Bible Church in Northwest Atlanta.
“We ended [2023] with citywide major crimes against people down more than 15% and that includes homicides being down more than 20% since this time last year,” Dickens said. “That is quite a significant change of events to be able to reduce crime that much.”
Chief Schierbaum said that while the decrease in homicides is encouraging, the impact of each loss on the community, families, and the personnel involved in investigations is “profound.”
“We’re very mindful that anytime someone is a victim of a crime, these families and individual citizens of our city and visitors to our city are impacted,” he said.
Rapes in the city were down 51% in 2023 and aggravated assaults were reduced by 16%, according to APD data.
Schierbaum said a total of 3,197 firearms were confiscated in 2023. APD’s focus on gangs, drugs and guns resulted in 568 adult and 44 juvenile gang-related charges as well, according to the chief. APD officers also executed 73 narcotics warrants, which led to 100 arrests, he said.
“We’re removing guns from our streets and going after the gang members and drug dealers that are pulling the triggers on those guns,” Shierbaum said.
Dickens said public safety has been his administration’s top priority since he took office. He called keeping Atlanta safe a “group project” that includes work by the APD but also nonprofits and the private sector in providing resources for young people to try to keep them off the streets.
“I want people to know that the intention of this mayor, this police department and all of these nonprofits … is to make sure that this is a safe city,” he said. “And we’ve succeeded in moving that needle forward.”
Buckhead crime numbers
In Zone 2, which includes Buckhead, total crime was down 3% with violent crime — homicides, rapes, and aggravated assaults — down 20%. There were seven homicides in Zone 2 in 2023 compared to 11 in 2022, for example.
That information was delivered to Neighborhood Planning Unit A on Jan. 2 by Capt. Ben Vayens, assistant Zone 2 commander.
Shoplifting remains a major issue in Buckhead and was up about 33% in 2023 over 2022, especially at Lenox Square and Phipps Plaza malls, Vayens said.
Motor vehicle thefts also increased 7% in 2023 in Zone 2. The increase is in large part due to a surge in stolen Hyundai and Kia vehicles, Vayens said.
Vayens added that 2,102 guns were stolen in 2022 and another 1,867 guns were stolen from vehicles in 2023.
So that’s almost 4,000 firearms that have been taken from vehicles inside the city of Atlanta,” he said.
“Those offenders are taking those guns to commit another crime, whether it’s a robbery or a shooting,” he said.
Vayens urged members of NPU-A to spread the message of those with firearms to take a firearms course “not only to learn how to use the firearm, to put it together, and fire it, but also to be able to properly store it.”
“A lot of folks will stick [their gun] into their console or their glove box to go to an event or a venue where a firearm is not permitted,” he said. “If the vehicle is broken into, that gun is then in the hands of criminals.”