ATLANTA — New numbers show the Atlanta Police Department handed out hundreds of citations and arrested more than 30 people, as crowds headed to Atlanta for events at bars and clubs over NBA All-Star weekend.
Atlanta Police said from Friday to Sunday, officers issued 318 citations and most were for some sort of traffic violation. Of the 36 people arrested, eight were from the city of Atlanta and 12 were from out of state.
In total police said they also impounded 20 cars and also seized illegal guns and drugs.
Grace Hamlin’, the owner of the non-profit W-Underdogs, said she felt like her organization was surrounded by illegal activity and wishes the city had done more to stop it. Hamlin’s non-profit is located on Whitehall Street near Downtown.
“I expect the city to get loud until 3 in the morning but at 6, 7 in the morning when parties are still going on and we can’t open our business, that’s concerning,” she said.
On Saturday morning, she said several cars were illegally parked at the non-profit, including a food vendor who set up in her parking lot without permission.
Hamlin claimed she called police twice but no one responded. However, APD told 11Alive they responded that same morning to illegally parked cars at Hamlin’s businesses address, but cars were gone when officers showed up.
Hamlin said she did not call about other illegally parked cars, just the food vendor.
On Sunday morning, a man was shot across the street, one of several shootings across Atlanta over the weekend.
Hamlin said all of that is on top of street racing, which is a regular problem in the area, seemed worse this weekend.
“After midnight, it’s a speed race. It’s a race track. You can see all the evidence on the street and all the donuts happening right there,” she said.
Hamlin said she hopes to see the city take these matters more seriously and give police additional resources possible to address the issues.