MACON, Ga. — Over the last year, Macon-Bibb County has launched a countywide anti-violence plan called Macon Violence Prevention.
Despite their efforts, statistics from the Bibb Sheriff's Office shows crime rates are still up. On the whole, crime is up more than 15%, but violent crime is up nearly 50%.
"A lot of my kinfolk down there have told me, 'We completely avoid Macon specifically for that reason,'" Katherine Powers said, outside her downtown Macon workplace.
'That' reason is crime. The numbers are climbing.
"It's almost a constant flow of new information about all of the violence that I've been hearing about," Powers said.
Part of the constant flow is 1,646 aggravated assaults this year as of September 30. That's up 562 from this time last year.
From where Powers lives in south Macon, to where she works downtown, she says it's hard to feel safe.
"Just the other day, I was walking to the store, and there was a car following me," Powers said. "I feel like I can't walk without at least one self-defense weapon, and that's really horrifying to me, to feel like I can't feel safe."
A couple weeks ago, the Bibb Sheriff's Office announced the results of 'Operation Four Corners.' They increased deputy presence in key areas countywide during the summer months, and noticed dropping crime rates.
"A 39% decrease in the number of ShotSpotter alerts during this time, and a 24% decrease in the number of rounds fired," Sheriff David Davis told 13WMAZ at a press conference earlier this month.
They also saw a 68% drop in commercial armed robberies. All those numbers are compared to the spring. Even though crime rates are up overall, Powers says she's hopeful they continue to drop.
"If I, as an individual, can't realign myself to think in a more positive way, I can't expect other people to do that. I can't expect true improvement to happen if it's something I don't think can truly happen," Powers said.
The sheriff's office told 13WMAZ they'll cover all the information in a presentation at Tuesday's Macon-Bibb commission meeting. They'll give commissioners an update on MVP, ShotSpotter, and other anti-violence initiatives.