ATLANTA — Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens says violent crime is going down across the city. However, crime statistics paint a slightly different picture.
Specifically, Dickens said the city has seen a decrease in homicides, rapes and aggravated assaults when compared year-over-year. Rapes have seen the largest decrease, according to his figures.
"These clear stats tell one story, but I also think about the families that don't have to grieve and the reduction of trauma and pain that a reduction in violence brings," he said on social media. "The devil has been busy, but God has been busy too -- saving lives."
One southwest Atlanta resident said he hasn't seen much of a difference.
"I would say it's probably about the same. I wouldn't say it's necessarily down," Bobby Sullivan said. "See a lot more (crime) than when I was a kid."
In general, it seemed neighbors were mixed on whether they were seeing a reduction in crime.
The FBI defines violent crimes as murder, manslaughter, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. However, Dickens' statement only cites three of those.
Taking a closer look at the statics provided by the Atlanta Police Department's weekly crime reports, since 2017 Atlanta has seen some decreases in overall crime.
Yet, it's only Week 11 of APD's crime report for the year.
And Dickens is correct -- for the crimes he mentioned, there have been decreases. There has also been a slight uptick in robberies since last year.
For business owners, that small increase matters as some have stepped up their security measures in response to what seems to be more crime.
"I really wish that the business owners in this community got together and formed their own alliance because we can't always rely on police to save us, we've got to save ourselves," Kisha Cameron, a restaurant owner said.