ATLANTA — As schools let out for spring break, Atlanta police are cracking down on crime. Officers are focusing on specific neighborhoods as they work to keep kids away from crime.
A police captain told Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Mark Winne that some of APD’s gang investigators work with intelligence analysts who mine data to help predict where crime is likely to occur.
Operation Kickstart began late Friday, close to the start of spring break this week for Atlanta Public Schools and elsewhere in metro Atlanta.
“It’s spring break and we want to make sure that nobody gets injured or hurt during this time period,” APD Violent Crime Interdiction Commander Major Fred Watson told Winne.
Watson said Operation Kickstart involves having more law enforcement on Atlanta streets.
“Those officers are not just (from) Atlanta. It’s a cross-collaboration between local, state, and federal partners to address violent crime in the city of Atlanta,” Watson said.
Atlanta Police Captain Derrick Jones said the Friday arrest of a 15-year-old charged along with two other teens in a January murder and robbery came about because of Operation Kickstart. He said the other two had already been captured.
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He said Operation Kickstart builds on the kind of partnerships, intelligence, and proactive policing on display earlier last week in the arrest of a documented gang member wanted for violating his first offender probation. He had a gun under his car seat when police caught him on April 2.
Jones said a gang-related murder that claimed the lives of two innocent 13-year-old boys last July still stings Atlanta police even though seven arrests have been made.
Lamon Freeman and Jakody Davis were sitting on some steps playing when they were shot.
“They were not gang members. These are two innocent 13-year-olds out playing,” Jones said.
Operation Kickstart will continue long after spring break to reduce the chances of other innocent people being killed.
Atlanta police has special operations similar to Operation Kickstart going on throughout the year.
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