ATLANTA — Atlanta police officers in Southwest Atlanta connected with the community Tuesday, interacting and answering questions.
The morning’s “Coffee with a Cop” event followed a violent night Monday, when there were two double shootings in Atlanta within minutes of each other.
Channel 2’s Steve Gehlbach was in Southwest Atlanta, where the message was about positivity.
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Along with outreach and communication, the Atlanta Police Department says crime has been down across the city, but especially in Zone 4, where there was a 23% decrease in crime in 2025.
Inside a McDonald’s on Ralph David Abernathy Blvd., police swarmed the restaurant, not to fight crime, but to prevent it.
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“For the police to get involved with the people that live here, that’s a good thing,” Atlanta resident Calvin Bell told Channel 2 Action News.
It was Bell’s first time going to a “Coffee with a Cop” event and his third year living in Zone 4, which covers dozens of diverse neighborhoods from Camp Creek to Cascade to Oakland City and the West End.
Zone 4 Commander Major Antonio Clay said police have to know the community they serve to build trust.
“They’re coming to get breakfast, ask us questions, where the intensity is not so high,” Clay said. “We want to meet people when they don’t need 911.”
But the morning event came after a violent night in Southwest Atlanta.
Zone 4 officers responded to a shooting at the Royal Oaks apartments off North Camp Creek Parkway around 8:45 p.m. where one man died and a second man survived.
Just minutes earlier, also in Zone 4, two men were shot after getting into an argument on Lee Street at Donnelly.
“Well, things happen all over, but perhaps we can get it together and have a more pleasant neighborhood to live in,” Bell said.
Clay told Gehlbach events like “Coffee with a Cop” are an effort to keep crime from happening.
“It’s always a work in progress, but we continue,” Clay said. Events like this, this is how we keep crime down."
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