Sandy Springs: Property thefts up, violent crime down in 2016

Sandy Springs presented some good news and bad news for local crime stats earlier this week.

At a preliminary budget hearing on May 2, Sandy Springs Police Chief Ken DeSimone gave city leaders an update on crime statistics. In 2016, violent crimes went down by 11.26 percent, but property crimes increased by 13 percent. This raised the overall crime rate by about 2 percent.

There were 134 violent crimes reported in Sandy Springs last year, a city with a population of more than 105,000 people. Also last year, 2,867 property crimes were reported. Property crimes include vehicle thefts, burgulary and similar crimes.

DeSimone said a majority of those property crimes were cases where cars were left unlocked with valuables left in plain site. He also mentioned that a high percentage of guns stolen from vehicles were from cars left unlocked.

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