Noise- and alcohol-related arrests were at their lowest point in years, according to a recently released city report, which also showed that police and Athens residents have been more proactive than in recent years in reporting suspicious activity in neighborhoods.
Athens Police Chief Tom Pyle also noted the department’s new enforcement approach with nuisance parties and noise violations as one of the most significant happenings of 2013 in the report.
There were around 100 fewer calls for noise complaints over the last year, but there were 40 more nuisance party calls, which are made by police officers on patrol. Noise-violation related arrests were at their lowest total since 2009.
“The culture has shifted and there is an understanding in the community of what is an acceptable level of noise,” Pyle said. “A lot of the noise complaints are not related to parties now; a lot of them are related to small gatherings, not what we would consider a party from five to 10 years ago.”
Almost half of the noise complaints nowadays are based on voices neighbors hear on porches, he added.
“People are cooperating and turning it down,” Pyle said. “If you drive a city street at midnight on a weekend, you can barely find a stereo because people just understand what is expected of them, so I think we’ve been very successful in shifting the culture in that regard.”
Mayor Paul Wiehl said he has witnessed the change in party culture since he had first come to Athens.
“When I got here years ago, kids would have a block party and they would walk off the premises with a cup of beer,” Wiehl said. “Now, almost everybody you see walking with a cup now has it turned upside down. It’s a culture that has evolved over time, saying ‘Yes, I can walk down the street and everybody knows I don’t have beer in this cup, so I won’t get nailed.’ ”
With the block parties associated with spring fest season fast approaching, Pyle said his department is preparing to deal with a change in activity regarding their most active month.
“You may see March be the most active month this year, simply because that’s when all of the fests are going on,” he said. “It wouldn’t surprise me to see April look more like May last year and March look a lot like April last year.”
Calls for service involving prowling and trespassing, suspicious persons and suspicious vehicles increased by a combined 194 calls, according to the 2013 annual report released by the Athens Police Department last week. Reports involving prowling and trespassing as well as suspicious persons reached their highest total since at least 2004, the earliest information made available.
Pyle said his department had asked residents to call whenever they see something peculiar happening in their neighborhoods.
He added the calls typically don’t lead to anything more in the form of a citation or arrest. Alcohol-related arrests were at their lowest point since 2008, which Pyle attributed partly to a change in resource allocation.
The department has put more resources behind traffic violations and less into drinking-related arrests, he said.
He also pointed to a possible correlation between the increase in calls for service, which in 2013 were at their highest total since 2006, and a drop in numerous other crimes. He added the increase in calls did not mean he saw a significant increase in crime.
There were 279 reports of vandalism last year, a 17 percent decline from the year before.
Reports of burglaries and breaking-and-entering also saw declines.
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