ATHENS, Ga. - Last Friday, Sept. 23, Athens-Clarke County mayor, Kelly Girtz, made a visit to the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication Building to advocate for the overall improvement of public safety in Athens, Ga. in a press conference.

 

The press conference comes at a time when violent crimes in Athens are at historically low rates. In fact, Mayor Girtz said “You are half as likely today to be a victim of a crime in Clarke County, as you would have been in 1995.” After all, public safety is something that the Mayor  continues to devote a large sum of his time to and continuously advocates for in the ACC community. 

 

In addition, according to data comparisons from the Athens-Clarke County Police Department and the National Incident-Based Reporting System, which can be found on the ACCPD website, one can see that the city of Athens-Clarke county falls relatively close to the average number of crimes nationally for cities with populations of 100,000 people. Considering that the population of ACC is estimated to be around 128,000 people, the numbers are reassuring that Mayor Girtz continues to make progress in the improvement of public safety. For instance, the ACCPD website reports that in terms of “aggravated assault” the 5 year average of crimes from 2017 to 2021 in ACC is 402, which is less than the national average of 413. For a city that has seen its fair share of crime, falling behind the national average in “aggravated assault” is refreshing if anything. 

 

However, despite the decrease in the five year average of some categories of crimes falling below the national average, others fields of crime such as burglary, larceny from motor vehicles, robbery, homicide, and rape still rank above the national average. Specifically, the ACCPD reports that the five-year average for robbery in ACC from 2017 to 2021 is 129, whereas the national average is 95. Ultimately, progress has been made, but there is still room to improve. 

The Mayor’s visit to Grady College comes at a time when the safety of UGA students in ACC has come into question. For instance, on Aug. 26, a 17 year old was shot in a popular area of downtown Athens, sending the immediate area into lockdown mode. Therefore, as strides are continuing to be made, one question remains: What else can be done by the local government to improve public safety in Athens even more?