Atlanta sees drop in homicides amid rise in assault, rape, and robbery rates

Police gives city leaders update on recent crime rates

The city's recent crime numbers are in and it is quite frankly a mixed bag. Homicides are down, which is good, but aggravated assaults and rapes are up.

ATLANTA - Atlanta’s latest crime statistics show a mixed trend: homicides are down, but incidents of aggravated assault, rape, and robbery are on the rise.

The Atlanta Police Department presented the numbers to the City Council’s Public Safety Committee this week. While officials noted that high-attendance events like the Peachtree Road Race, Cowboy Carter concerts, the FIFA Club World Cup, and WWE Evolution all occurred without major incidents, several violent crime categories have increased.

What they're saying:

"The crime stat we always focus on is murder, but there are some other deadly sins that we need to be looking at," said Councilman Antonio Lewis, who represents District 12. "Rape and robbery—they both went up. Rape went up 24% in our area. I wanna know what's going on. For robbery to go up—these things we can actually prevent a little bit more."

Atlanta police said many of the robberies involve known suspects, repeat offenders, or people with personal ties to one another. One department official noted an increase in robberies tied to failed drug transactions and other disputes among acquaintances.

APD's weekly crime reports

Councilwoman Mary Norwood said she was encouraged that the rise in robberies did not appear to involve a significant increase in stranger-to-stranger incidents.

What's next:

City officials say they are working to identify strategies to address the uptick in these crimes while continuing to maintain safety at large-scale public events.