ATLANTA — Atlanta Police Chief Erika Shields said she is alarmed with the amount of gun violence among teens seen since the start of summer.
Nearly a dozen teens have been shot, and even killed, across the metro Atlanta area over the last two weeks. And while not all of the cases fall under the Atlanta Police Department's jurisdiction, Shields agrees that it seems like that number is up from years past.
"It definitely feels higher," she said. "It's been alarming to keep reading about and hearing about the number of kids being shot in the metro area."
In an exclusive interview with 11Alive's Natisha Lance, Shields said a number of different factors are contributing to the amount of violence – gangs recruiting kids at an earlier age, home life, guns falling into the wrong hands or not being secured – but it mainly boils down to kids being idle.
"It's (gun violence) is not happening where kids are occupied," Shields said. "It's the down time, it's already leaning toward engaging in some level of criminal activity, and, 'Oh, by the way, there's a gun.'"
11Alive asked Shields where the guns are even coming from – she said mainly from being stolen from out of cars. But some of it falls on the parents' shoulders, too.
When asked how the community can be vigilant as the summer continues to go forward. To that, Shields said, "We, as law enforcement, have to be visible. We're stopping the kids, we're talking to them, engaging with them, trying to encouraging them to be engaged in other activities."
Shields highlighted programs through the Atlanta Parks and Recreation department, internships with the City and even programs with the department that work to try and keep kids and teens involved over the summer, because, for Shields the alternative – potentially deadly gun violence – is never OK.
"Whenever I see a kid getting shot, as a police chief, you feel like you've failed. On some level you have failed. Regardless of the circumstances – it could be in a house, in a car," she said. "Kids should be able to be kids. And, we just have to change the narrative."
Shields said while many may wish there could be a quick solution to curb the violence, the department knows that just putting a kid in handcuffs won't work.
"We know that arresting a juvenile with nothing does nothing," Shields said. "So, we're now in a space where we know we have to continually point out what's not working. We have to identify what can work."
