Atlanta police chief warns residents 'to remain vigilant' ahead of holidays

ATLANTA - As we head into the busy Thanksgiving weekend, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum and his command staff remind residents to remain vigilant.

"Most people that are going to commit a crime do not want to get caught. They want to do it quickly, and they want something that is going to be worth their effort and their risk," Chief Schierbaum said. "For any crime to occur you have to have an opportunity, a perpetrator and a victim. So, once you are aware and realizing someone may be watching you can adjust your behavior and your movement, so they don't have the opportunity to take the package or catch you off guard."

Deploying administrative personnel and investigators over the next few months is part of the Atlanta Police Department's plan to increase the police presence across the city.

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While Chief Schierbaum will not reveal how many additional officers will patrol the city during this period, he said the department is using every available resource this holiday season.

"We are going to be reassigning administrative personnel that would normally be doing functions not normally related to patrol will be assigned over the next weeks through New Year out on the street on patrol," Schierbaum said. "You will see a strong visible presence of the police department on the ground, in the air with our air assets, you will see a very visible presence out there. But you will also see there are a lot of things you won't see that's at play by this police department."

Police officials also remind motorists not to leave any packages or other valuables in their vehicles, and to lock up their guns if they have them in their vehicles.