Posted by LeonNC on December 02, 2000 at 17:59:20:
I agree, the police where very helpful to me today in identifying areas that I would want to avoid. I just drove up to the station and started talking with the two officers standing outside the door. They were glad to answer any questions I had. And they were definetely in the know.
LeonNC
Identifying War Zones - Posted by Geoffrey Faivre-Malloy
Posted by Geoffrey Faivre-Malloy on December 01, 2000 at 19:43:12:
I’m attempting to identify war zones in the metro Atlanta area. I know that crime information is publicly available. As a result of this, I was wondering if anyone knows of a service that will provide color coded maps to show the amount of crime in particular areas.
I.E. Red would be high crime, blue might be lower crime and white would be free of it. Crime being defined as drug or violent crime.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
G-Man
Re: Identifying War Zones - Posted by Brent_IL
Posted by Brent_IL on December 02, 2000 at 11:23:56:
I would phone the anti-gang unit at the main police switchboard. If you don’t sound too opportunistic they will usually share information. You’re smart to check before you buy. The cops (when they could stop laughing long enough) were happy to explain to me where I had gone wrong when I had problems after a sale. I think that police officers are an underutilized resource for CRE. Almost every officer I have met was helpful and pleasant.
Re: Identifying War Zones - Posted by Dan (MO)
Posted by Dan (MO) on December 01, 2000 at 21:43:08:
While I have never been to Atlanta, I have spent enough time in the two largest cities in my state to tell what a war zone is. I live in the third largest city in my state and the “war zones” here (there are maybe two blocks here that even compare to the two aforementioned cities) are much different (and safer) than in places like Atlanta. Many times a major newspaper of a large city will, once or twice a year, report the crime stats for all of the areas that the paper covers. This is one source of that information. Call the newspaper (or search online if they have an “archives” section) and ask them where this information is available at.
If you dont know the war zones from just pulling out a map and knowing which streets or areas are bad, get in the car and drive around! You may want to remove your hubcaps or borrow your poorest friends’ car LOL. If your car is red or blue, you may want to wear a bullet-proof vest and a helmet. If the car has any kind of fancy wheels on it and is large and either a Buick, Caddy, or any other 70’s or early 80’s large vehicle, you may get some looks that you can do without while driving around the war zones of Atlanta…
If there are people sitting outside convenience stores, liquor stores, or bars drinking out of paper bags, people loitering around pay phones and street corners, houses that have fenced front yards, or that have “No Trespassing” signs on them, or bars covering the windows, abandoned cars parked along the streets, many vacant, crumbling, burned out, boarded up, and condemned buildings, graffiti, pawn shops, cash n carries, or many police substations, then you are in a WAR ZONE! Lock your doors, roll up the windows, and be as inconspicious as you can be and GET OUT OF THERE!
All in fun,
Dan (MO)
Re: Identifying War Zones - Posted by Troy W. (NC)
Posted by Troy W. (NC) on December 01, 2000 at 21:11:30:
Have you tried going down to the county courthouse and ask the folks who handle the police blotter reports to see if they can give you a map. My family lives in Stone Mountain which is a nice area, but when we drive around Atlanta we can DEFINTELY tell the war zones. The streets seem to get smaller and there are less trees. hahaha!! If not you might be able to check out some realtor sites and research neighborhoods.
Hope this helps
Troy