According to new statistics released on Friday, homicide, rape and burglary are all up in liberal-leaning, progressive Atlanta in 2022.
Homicides are up 43% for this year, compared to the same period in 2021, according to the Atlanta Police Department, and are on track to beat last year’s 30-year high of 158 murders.
There have been 20 homicides in the city thus far, compared to 14 at the same point last year.
With 37 reported so far this year, compared to 11 at the same time in 2021, rapes are up 236%, the city’s police force said.
Burglaries have also increased 18%, with 229 reported as of Feb. 12, compared to last year’s 191 at the same time, and shoplifting cases are up 4%, with 164 cases so far this year, compared to 157 in 2021.
Following the theft of more than 2,000 firearms from vehicles last year, Atlanta Police said “irresponsible gun ownership” contributed to many of the shootings this year, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Some city officials blamed the crime spike on former Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, claiming the progressive Democrat didn’t do enough to fight crime, while Bottoms said local Republicans were at fault for lenient gun laws and lifting the pandemic lockdown.
“Remember, in Georgia, we were opened up before the rest of the country, even before the CDC said that it was safe for us to open,” Bottoms told MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle. “So, our night clubs and our bars remained open, so we had people traveling here from across the county to party in our city.”
The pandemic “left a lot of people battered and bruised, not just physically, but also emotionally,” she said, which led to an increase in personal disputes that could easily be aggravated by guns.
Propelled to his November victory by a promise to tackle crime, new Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens has pledged to install a combined total of 10,000 new streetlights, security cameras and license plate readers in the city, in addition to hiring hundreds of new police officers.
Story continues at: Rapes are up
