By Cari Gervin
Community News Writer
Despite all the hype, there really is very little crime on the North Shore.
Captain Jeannie Snyder of the Chattanooga Police Department told the North Chattanooga Council of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce on June 6 that incidents in the area have been blown totally out of proportion.
Capt. Snyder said there have been 31 somewhat serious offenses on the riverfront area since January, but only two have been defined as robberies. Of those two, one was a mugging near Ross’s Landing, while the other was a scuffle between teenage girls in Coolidge Park. During the fight, one girl had her cell phone stolen by another, so it was technically a robbery.
“What we consider violent crimes are incredibly rare,” Ms. Snyder said.
Capt. Snyder said Coolidge and Renaissance Parks have a new evening bike patrol with four officers and one supervisor.
She admitted that there have been a few vehicle break-ins and some vandalism. She said she suspected most of these offenses would stop once CARTA has installed video surveillance in the parking lots, and the police department installs surveillance in other areas of the park.
“We know that we cannot prevent every single crime,” Capt. Snyder said. “There’s crime everywhere in every city … but this is our city too. We live here, we come down to the parks with our families.”
Capt. Snyder also said that the recent Saturday evening incident reported in some area news outlets as a gang melee started as a scheduling and communication problem.
“It wasn’t just a mass gang fight,” Capt. Snyder stated. “There may have been some gang members there … none of us can pick or choose who uses the park.”
After Capt. Snyder finished speaking, Linda Todd announced that the new Council president would be Mack McCarley.
The Council will not meet in July, as its regularly scheduled meeting falls on July 4. Its next meeting will be August 1.
E-mail Cari Gervin at cgervin@tfpcommunitynews.com
