Though December brings lots of holiday cheer, it can also create opportunities for crime.
To combat crimes such as shoplifting and car break-ins that sometimes increase around the holiday season, local police will be upping patrols and prevention efforts.
Sandy Springs Police Lt. Steve Rose said officers and volunteers will be handing out fliers at major shopping areas reminding people of precautions they should take to avoid becoming the victims of crime.
“We’ll walk the lots putting fliers on cars and talking to people. Just kind of preaching the gospel as wide as we can,” Rose said. “The moral of the story is lock it up, take it with you or hide it.”
With people out shopping for Christmas, thieves have more chances to steal recently purchased gifts and other valuables out of cars.
Dunwoody Police Sgt. Mike Carlson said many thefts could be prevented if people made sure that anything worth stealing is stored out of sight.
“We want folks to be careful,” Carlson said. “We encourage them to take all valuables out of their cars. Most ‘entering autos’ are crimes of opportunity.”
According to Atlanta police, it’s important to be mindful even of the small clues that could alert criminals to valuable items in a car such as a ring on the windshield left by a GPS or earphones to an MP3 player.
The Atlanta Police Department’s six geographical zones have put together holiday action plans to combat common holiday-related crimes such as robberies, burglaries, auto thefts, vehicle break-ins and shoplifting.
The plan includes overtime for Atlanta police officers and coordination with other law enforcement agencies, private security and off-duty personnel, according to a news release.
Capt. Don Tracy of the North Precinct of the DeKalb County Police said robberies often increase this time of year.
“We step up our enforcement in any shopping areas to reduce robberies of the citizens and also to stop people from breaking into their cars and stealing the presents and so forth,” Tracy said. “We have an eight man team … and their only focus is robbery reduction.”
Tracy said all parts of the department, from the DUI task force to traffic enforcement, step up their efforts during the month of December.
“We try to get help from every part of the police department we can,” Tracy said. “This is something we prepare for every year because crime does tend to go up.”
Carlson said the Dunwoody police will be increasing patrols around Perimeter Mall. Carlson said they believe the increased police presence helps deter crime around the mall.
“We work together with our businesses to show we are serious about shoplifting,” Carlson said. “We’ve always taken a zero tolerance policy around shoplifting. It doesn’t matter if you take a pack of gum or a flat screen TV.”