Druid Hills Civic Association - Neighborhood Safety

SERVING THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF DRUID HILLS

A COMMUNITY NESTLED IN THE HEART OF ATLANTA, GEORGIA

NEIGHBORHOOD SAFETY

The Druid Hills Public Safety Committee is chaired by Doug Rollins. We are working on multiple approaches to addressing crime within our community. Please send any neighborhood public safety concerns to: publicsafety@druidhills.org.

GDOT PROPOSED CHANGES FOR PONCE

Roundabouts in our future?

December 3, 2021

The DHCA has been lobbying for reductions in vehicular speed on Ponce de Leon to improve overall safety. The Public Safety Committee has been following conceptual changes being considered for Ponce de Leon at key intersections as it meanders through Druid Hills.

At a recent meeting, GDOT shared several options which include potential changes to the intersections at East Lake Rd, Ponce de Leon Manor and at the Ponce /Scott Blvd split. They are also shared improvements under consideration at Ponce and Ridgecrest.

See the GDOT presentation.

STREET RE-PAVING IN DRUID HILLS

DHCA Has Learned That Most Streets Make Re-paving list

November 4, 2021

Many of us have been frustrated by the slow pace of waterline replacement over the past 18 months and have expressed concern about whether and when the streets will be properly repaved. Your DHCA has learned that while the vast majority of impacted streets will be repaved, there are a few that did not make the list. As we understand, streets are being repaved using SPLOST funding and there was enough funding to cover the first 300 miles of streets in disrepair.

We have sent this formal communication to the DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond and our Commissioner Jeff Rader requesting that all streets impacted by waterline replacement be re-paved and we implore you to do the same.

The above streets have not been slated for re-paving within the current SPLOST funding.

Neighborhood Watch

We believe that neighbors who know each other look out for each other, and that is our most effective method of deterring crime. With Neighborhood Watch, neighbors keep an eye out for one another. To make this work we need street captains (and co-captains for the longer streets). To date, we have 45 street captains!

Street captain responsibilities:

Maintain a contact list for every house on the street and share it with everyone on the list.
Forward monthly crime reports to your list. (It will be sent to you by the Druid Hills Neighborhood Watch Leader, Ellen Meshnick.)
If a crime does occurs, the victim must call the police. Then either email your neighbors or tell the street captain, who will do so.

Note that you don’t have to belong to the Druid Hills Civic Association nor the Druid Hills Patrol. (However, we encourage you to join both. If everyone joins the Patrol, it can extend its hours and its patrol area.)

Join the team!

Public Safety Committee, Doug Rollins, publicsafety@druidhills.org

Neighborhood Watch Leader, Ellen Meshnick, neighborhoodwatch@druidhills.org

The mission of the Druid Hills Patrol is to make Druid Hills safer by employing off-duty police officers to patrol our community and supplement services provided by the police. It is a separate organization from the DHCA. It is a non-profit organization, funded by members and managed by volunteers. The DHCA encourages all neighbors to join. The more members, the more hours can be spent patrolling the neighborhood! Join the patrol today!

PROTECT YOUR PROPERTY

Don't leave anything in your car. Even things that might seem like they aren't of value, may be desirable to someone else! Believe it or not, loose change can be the reason for a broken window.

Please remember to retrieve packages from your doorstep as soon as they are delivered.

Coordinate package security with neighbors by exchanging contact information and agreeing to either move packages to a secure location or take them inside for each other.

Remove mail from your mailbox as soon as possible after delivery.

Report ALL thefts.

Be a good neighbor and keep an eye out for anything unusual.

SEEN DOWNED SIGNS/STREET LIGHTS OUT?

Report street light outages here.

Report downed signs in DeKalb County by emailing Sharon Neal.

MONTHLY CRIME REPORT

Druid Hills Crime Report : April 2022 : 30 total crimes
in DeKalb County : 28 crimes
Case #	Type of crime	Address	Date	Day	Comm’l or resident’l complex
22- 034995	Victim reported that suspect, who he knew, stole his handgun from under his front passenger seat.	100 block Scott Blvd	4/30/2022 @ 11:35 am	Sat
22- 034564	Theft from motor vehicle	1500 block N Decatur Rd (Emory Village)	4/29/2022 @ 2:45 pm	Fri	√
22- 034536	Theft from motor vehicle	1300 block Oxford Rd (Emory Village)	4/29/2022 @ 2:00 pm	Fri	√
22- 034514	Theft from motor vehicle	1300 block Oxford Rd (Emory Village)	4/29/2022 @ 1:36 pm	Fri	√
22- 033590	Victim stated that the front passenger window of her vehicle was broken while she was parked at Deepdene Park.	2100 block N Ponce de Leon Ave	4/26/2022 @ 5:04 pm	Tues
22- 033579	Victim stated that the front and rear passenger windows of his vehicle were broken while he was parked at Deepdene Park.	2100 block N Ponce de Leon Ave	4/26/2022 @ 4:55 pm	Tues
22- 033588	Victim stated that the front passenger window of her vehicle was broken while she was parked at Deepdene Park.	2100 block N Ponce de Leon Ave	4/26/2022 @ 4:50 pm	Tues
22- 032966	Aggravated assault. Domestic dispute between mother and son.	1500 block N Decatur Rd (Emory Village)	4/24/2022 @ 10:41 pm	Sun	√
22- 032731	Driving under the influence.	2200 block E Lake Rd	4/23/2022 @ 10:18 pm	Sat
22- 032710	$300 worth of Mega Jumbo Bucks scratch-off tickets were stolen from customer service at Kroger.	1700 block Briarcliff Rd (Sage Hill Shopping Center)	4/23/2022 @ 7:00 pm	Sat	√
22- 034144	Victim called to report what she thought was fraud on her Equifax report from 2010, 2011 and 2012.	700 block Houston Mill Rd	4/20/2022 @ 10:00 pm	Wed	√
22- 031173	Theft from motor vehicle	1500 block N Decatur Rd (Emory Village)	4/18/2022 @ 1:30 pm	Mon	√
22- 030893	Theft from motor vehicle	1500 block N Decatur Rd (Emory Village)	4/17/2022 @ 7:30 pm	Sun	√
22- 030246	Theft from motor vehicle	1500 block N Decatur Rd (Emory Village)	4/15/2022 @ 12:30 am	Fri	√
22- 030034	Theft from motor vehicle	1300 block Oxford Rd (Emory Village)	4/14/2022 @ 9:15 pm	Thurs	√
22- 030109	Theft from motor vehicle	1500 block Emory Rd (Emory Village)	4/14/2022 @ 5:00 pm	Thurs	√
22- 030200	Motorcycle taken from front of residence.	1100 block Villa Dr	4/14/2022 @ 12:00 am	Thurs	√
22- 029733	Victim stated he received a call from someone identifying themselves as a Fulton County sheriff, telling him about unpaid tickets which he could pay over the phone.	2100 block W Ponce de Leon Ave	4/13/2022 @ 3:00 pm	Wed
22- 029149	Truck taken from front of residence.	1600 block Anita Pl	4/12/2022 @ 2:21 am	Tues
22- 035256	Theft from motor vehicle	1700 block E Clifton Rd	4/10/2022 @ 10:05 pm	Sun
22- 028281	Driving under the influence. Victim ran his vehicle into a tree.	1400 block Briarcliff Rd	4/9/2022 @ 12:09 am	Sat	√
22- 028637	Burglary at a business. Window pried open.	1400 block Oxford Rd (Emory Village)	4/8/2022 @ 4:55 pm	Fri	√
22- 027718	Theft from motor vehicle	1600 block Anita Pl	4/6/2022 @ 9:30 pm	Wed
22- 027323	Theft from motor vehicle	1500 block N Decatur Rd (Emory Village)	4/5/2022 @ 1:30 pm	Tues	√
22- 027124	Theft from motor vehicle	1500 block N Decatur Rd (Emory Village)	4/4/2022 @ 8:00 pm	Mon	√
22- 034479	Victim reported what she thought to be fraudulent activity on her Wells Fargo account.	1700 block Dyson Dr	4/4/2022 @ 5:00 pm	Mon
22- 028339	Theft from motor vehicle	1400 block Markan Dr	4/4/2022 @ 10:00 am	Mon	√
22- 026387	Employee at Callanwolde reported a rear window of her vehicle was broken.	900 block Briarcliff Rd	4/1/2022 @ 6:00 pm	Fri	√
in City of Atlanta : 2 crimes
22 1071034	Burglary of ISKCON Temple. Victims reported $2,000-$3,000 cash stolen. Suspect was seen inside and chased away. He ran toward Moreland Ave. There are video cameras in the hallway, but they were not turned on.	1287 S Ponce de Leon Ave	4/17/2022 @ 3:00pm	Sun
22 1050486	Larceny-from vehicle	883 Oakdale Rd	4/15/2022	Fri
Report compiled by E. Meshnick Sources: crimemapping.com, opendata.atlantapd.org, A. Fowler, J. Tillman


Graphs prepared by G. Tapp

PONCE CORRIDOR SAFETY

Ponce de Leon was designed as a part of the original Druid Hills plan by Frederick Law Olmsted to be a meandering, picturesque road showcasing the neighborhood. As Atlanta has grown (and so has the traffic!), it is a very dangerous corridor with frequent traffic accidents and incidents. It also has problems with flooding.

The GDOT has had several stakeholder input meetings as they try to address these issues while working within our neighborhood's historical landmark regulations. We maintain a special web page where we host updates about the "Ponce Corridor" here.

FLOCK Security Camera PILOT PROGRAM

FLOCK cameras were installed in Division 1 as part of a City of Atlanta grant beginning August 20, 2018.
Read about the DHCA Pilot Program

Important update on FLOCK contract (November 2020):

The DHCA wants to ensure all residents are aware of the expiration of the grant used to cover the first two years of our FLOCK camera system. Beginning in February of 2021, those living on Fairview, Lullwater, Oakdale and Springdale will need to pick up the contracting and payment process directly with FLOCK in order to maintain coverage. The current rate is $2,000 per camera/year or $4,000 to cover both ends of a street segment. The organizers of private FLOCK contracts on Cornell and Oxford tell us that the annual cost per resident varies from $88-$120 per year depending on the number of homes.

Read our analysis of FLOCK camera effectiveness.

DHCA SIDEWALK REPAIR PROGRAM

Sick and tired of our sidewalks?

Your DHCA is too!

And we want to do something about them! The first step towards any remediation of our abysmal sidewalks is to understand the size and scope of the problem.We can do this and we desperately need your help. Thanks to COVID 19, we’re all spending a lot more time walking, running, skating and riding up and down our streets.

Send me a quick email with a photo of the worst of the worst. Take a picture, note the specific address of the sidewalk and the side of the street if possible. We believe that neighbors who know each other look out for each other, and that is our most effective method of deterring crime. To that end, we’re going to create an inventory of our sidewalks that we can use to inform fact-based discussions with stakeholders including DeKalb County.

Send your sidewalk pics (with address) to publicsafety@druidhills.org. Spread the word to your friends and neighbors. #safewalk

CONTACT US

DRUID HILLS CIVIC ASSOCIATION
P.O. Box 363, Decatur, GA 30031

mail@druidhills.org
druidhills.org