Police Chief Promises Action On Georgia Tech Robberies

ATLANTA, GA — Atlanta's police chief on Thursday promised a stronger response from her department after seven armed robberies in neighborhoods around Georgia Tech in the past month.

Chief Erika Shields said her department should have done more to stop the robberies earlier, while also calling on the Fulton County courts system to get tougher on career criminals.

"Quite frankly, we should have never reached this point," Shields said at a news conference Thursday afernoon. "Robberies in the Tech area are cyclical. We go through this every three or four years and the department failed to respond quickly and severely enough when we had our first couple in that area. And I accept responsibility for that."

"A variety of initiatives" are set to begin Thursday night around Georgia Tech's campus, including the Home Park neighborhood. She declined to give details on what those initiatives will be.

The most recent robbery in the area happened at about 2:30 a.m. Thursday when a man jumped from bushes along 15 Street, pointed a handgun at a Tech student and stole money and a backpack, according to police.

The police department has taken steps including partnering with Georgia Tech police and the Georgia State Patrol in the area, putting up mobile cameras in neighborhoods near the college and conducting lighting assessments. But, she said, that wasn't enough.

"I commit to you that we will rein this in," Shield said. "We are going to make arrests and we are going to change the narrative in this area. We simply cannot have our students at Georgia Tech, or any of the other colleges, being victimized in the manner that is occurring."

Shields said investigators have "good leads" in some of the robberies. She said they are not believed to have been part of a single crime operation, but that they likely will prove to be gang related.

While shouldering a share of the responsibility for the crimes, Shields also called out judges in the Fulton County court system for being too lenient in some cases — suggesting that has contributed to the string of violent crimes.

"We will make arrests and those individuals that we arrest will have previously skated through the judicial system," she said. "Just as APD must step up its game, the courts simply have to accept responsibility for this pattern of providing bond, adjudicating cases and glossing over criminal histories with the speed that they do.

"Somewhere between compassion and 'throw away the key,' there has to be some level of middle road where we can identify and hold accountable people who are committed to engaging in acts of violence repeatedly."

Shields was appointed chief of the Atlanta Police Department in December 2016.

Photo from Atlanta Police Department, via Periscope