"UPDATED: 'We Need to Talk More Than the Criminals'"

ORMEWOOD PARK — Southeast Atlanta residents met Saturday morning to address the crime wave that has gripped their neighborhoods this summer and hear from city leaders.

Mayor Kasim Reed addressed the group — his second appearance this week before Southeast Atlanta constituents.

"The leadership team that we have assembled is really moving the needle," Reed said.

He noted that since he became mayor in 2010, his administration has hired some 800 police officers to build a department of some 2,000 people.

"I care very deeply," the mayor said, pledging to commit all the resources necessary for as long as needed until the surge in crime is turned.

Reed, who is seeking reelection, said the department is taking proactive steps such as looking to add additional cameras throughout the city.

The one thing he said he needed residents' help on is criminal justice and repeat offenders.

He said there are some 30 to 50 repeat offenders who continually go in and out of the courts only to be released back onto the street.

A third of people who commit crimes in the city are on probation when doing so, Reed said.

While he stopped short of blaming the courts, Reed said the revolving door of released repeat offenders is driving the surge.

Indeed, Artavius Marcellus Brown, a repeat offender arrested last month in Thomasville Heights, is charged with committing 24 armed robberies of Family Dollar stores across metro Atlanta and a federal bank robbery of the PNC Bank in Tucker.

"I've got to have your help, because it's tearing this city apart," Reed said.

Atlanta Police Department Chief George N. Turner said violent crime overall is down 18 percent but in Zone 6, which includes Grant Park, Kirkwood, East Atlanta and Ormewood Park, crime is up nine percent, year-to-date.

Zone 6's Beat 605, which includes the Grant Park neighborhood, saw a 16 percent increase, Turner said. The bulk of that stems from robberies and burglaries, the chief said.

The meeting was part of a "Public Safety Day" at the Ormewood Park Presbyterian Church sponsored by Atlanta City Councilwoman Carla Smith, whose District 1 includes Grant Park, Boulevard Heights and Glenwood Park, among other neighborhoods.

The idea, Smith said, was crafted by resident Lara Reedick.

The purpose, Smith said, was to get neighbors talking to one another.

"It's neighbors knowing neighbors and coming together. I hope more people will get involved," the councilwoman said.

"The criminals talk to each other and we need to talk more than the criminals."