Police go on crime sweep; Six-hour operation was planned months ago, Atlanta officials say.
For six hours, law-enforcement officials from across metro Atlanta swept the city in an effort to crack down on criminal activity.
The initiative was part of a regional crime sweep that, according to orchestrators, had been in the works for months. They said it was a coincidence that it came on the heels of several high-profile crimes.
But according to Major Debra Williams of the Atlanta Police Department's Special Enforcement Section, it could not have come at a better time.
From the blue-jeans bandits, the carjacking of City Councilman Ceasar Mitchell and the robbery and killing of former boxing champion Vernon Forrest, many Atlantans are feeling less safe in the city.
Mayor Shirley Franklin and police Chief Richard Pennington held a news conference Thursday to reassure residents they are addressing crime in the city. They said they will put 139 more officers on the streets by next summer.
Law-enforcement representatives from APD's Special Enforcement Section along with the Georgia State Patrol and the Fulton County Sheriff's Office were dispatched from the rear parking lot of the Boisfeuillet Jones Atlanta Civic Center at 4 p.m. with assignments to sweep six major zones in Atlanta.
Uniform, undercover, SWAT and Red Dog officers organized road blocks, served warrants and patrolled major crime hot spots resulting in 80 cases, Williams said. The cases included a combination of misdemeanors and felonies, Williams said.
The first sweep took place in May and resulted in 200 arrests.