Decatur Police Spokeswoman Jennifer Ross sent over the following reports. She said burglary calls are down and calls to police are up.

Also, kudos to the person who called their neighbor after hearing the alarm blaring. That was a good call – literally.

Here are the reports:

Robberies

Aug. 20 at 2:23 p.m.

A Decatur Police Officer took a statement from a victim who said that on Aug. 15 she was walking east on the 400 block of West Ponce de Leon Avenue near Farm Burger, between 9:45 p.m. and 10:05 p.m. She was carrying a laptop bag around her shoulder and listening to her headphones when two men approached her form behind. The first suspect snatched her laptop bag and both men ran west on West Ponce de Leon Ave. The victim said she couldn’t get a good look at the suspects. She said she waited to report the robbery because there were numerous customers sitting on the patios of nearby restaurants but no one noticed what happened.

She described the suspects as one black male, approximately 6 feet tall, wearing a dark t-shirt and Atlanta Braves hat, and one Hispanic male, approximately 6 feet tall, wearing a white hooded sweat shirt and jeans.

Aug. 21 at 12:57 p.m.

A Decatur Police Officer took a report of an armed robbery and kidnapping that occurred on Aug. 20 at 2 p.m. The victim said she was leaving the Delta Community Credit Union located at 245 West Ponce de Leon Ave. and that a male suspect approached her while she was going back to her car. The suspect told her he had a gun and demanded her money. The victim said she gave the suspect her money and the suspect demanded she return to the bank to get more. The victim said she noticed a second man standing nearby. The first suspect told the victim to go into the bank with him. When they went in together, the teller told the victim no funds were available. The victim and the man left the bank, but the man kept demanding more money. The victim gave the man her bank card an PIN number. The victim said she ran to her vehicle and drove to another credit union, where she tried to file a police report with another agency. The suspects didn’t show the victim their weapon.

The victim described the suspects as one black male in his late 30s, 5 feet 10 inches tall, wearing a white t-shirt, blue jeans, a black blazer, a black skull cap and black dress shoes, and described the other as a black male, in his mid-40s, who has a large build, a close haircut, wearing a white t-shirt with a black design on the front and black Dickie pants.

Burglaries

Aug. 21, at 7:20 p.m.

Decatur Police responded to a report of an attempted burglary around the 100 block of Garland Avenue. The victim said he noticed a large crack in the kitchen window when he arrived home. He said it looked like someone tried to pry open the window. The victim said he called his alarm company and learned something triggered his alarm at approximately 5:46 p.m. The alarm company didn’t contact the victim or police, and no items were missing.

Aug. 21 at 8:15 p.m.

Decatur Police received a report of a burglary in the 200 block of Second Avenue. The victim said she left her home before 7 a.m. and when she returned she noticed the back door was unlocked. The burglars stole jewelry and three laptops/tablets. The officer discovered an open rear window leading into the bathroom and concluded that’s what the burglar used to get inside the victim’s home.

Aug. 21 at 9:30 p.m.

Decatur Police received a report of an attempted burglary in the 100 block of Felt Avenue. The victim said a neighbor called her at 8:47 p.m. and told her the alarm was blaring inside the victim’s home home. The neighbor checked the victim’s home and saw the front window was open, but didn’t notice anything else that looked suspicious. The victim told police that the window was closed when she left and was open when she returned. The victim said someone had moved something from the window ledge. No items were missing.

More from Sgt. Jennifer Ross:

***Crime Prevention Reminders***

–       If you have a monitored alarm system, periodically test the system to make certain the company is calling you and the police when the alarm is activated.

–       If you hear an audible alarm at a neighbor’s house, please call police immediately.

–       Please secure windows around your home that are accessible from the outside.

Also, the police department wants to thank everyone for their continued vigilance in neighbors watching out for neighbors.  There has been a drastic decrease in burglaries city-wide between May/June (33) and July/August (14 so far) while there has been an increase in calls from the community reporting suspicious persons, vehicles and activity.  We know credit for this decrease does not belong to the officers alone.  Thank you and keep looking out and keep calling.

Editor’s note: It’s my policy to only report the race of a suspect when combined with other descriptive information, like age, height and clothing.

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