As a quick follow up to my previous post, it must feel kind of weird in Atlanta Sheriff Richard Pennington’s shoes these days. After pulling successful stints in DC and New Orleans, cities with much more prevalent violent crime “issues” than Atlanta, Pennington’s got to be perplexed by the heat he’s catching in Atlanta. Or maybe not… I’m not a mind reader. Maybe it explains Pennington’s reaction to the public outcry. Maybe it doesn’t.
I do find it a little ironic though that Pennington was lauded for his work bringing down crime rates in some very tough cities, but is being panned here for basically doing the same thing. The rates of crime really took a dip when he showed up on the scene in 2002, and while he’s not responsible for all the goodness, it all happened on his watch.
Not defending or justifying, it just occurred to me when I was finished up the other post that Pennington was the Sheriff when I lived in NOLA. I haven’t taken the time to look it up or anything, but I bet Atlanta was a relative Disney World compared to the violent crime rate of New Orleans at the time.
Two things.
You do need to do your research. Now, I’m pretty sure it was in the pre-Olympic era, but Atlanta used to be right up there with NOLA and DC in competition for murder capital of the world.
And you’re right. Pennington’s reaction was strange. He disappeared. When a city starts seething at the joints from a rapid succession of high profile crimes, you don’t skip town, duck for cover or whatever the hell he did. You come out an address the situation publicly and as quickly as possible. That’s just basic P.R.
It’s not all about charts and stats.
Agreed. I didn’t replay the “crime isn’t about just numbers”. I get that. Although I am going to take a quick peek at mid-90’s anyway (just for shits and gigs). What I should have said is that Pennington inherited a much better environment than he ever had in NOLA, and that might be driving the attitude/response.