Crime in Atlanta down slightly during COVID-19 outbreak period, data shows

Police officials are tracking CRIME trends during the period of the COVID-19 outbreak. 

It was in early March that many of the closures and disruptions kicked in. The City of Atlanta instituted a stay at home policy. 

With fewer people out and about, crime in March declined compared to the same period one year ago. 

However, the trend is not uniform for all major crime categories. Overall crime was down was 4 percent during the period. Property crimes, like burglary down were down 14 percent and larcenies were down 16 percent.

Not all crime was down, however. Car break-ins rose slightly over the period -- up 4 percent. Murder is down by 25 percent, but that is offset by a rise in aggravated assaults -- a hike up of about 15 percent. In the last category, aggravated assault -- that is when a person shoots someone but doctors were able to save the individual.