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This past weekend, an apartment building in Atlanta found itself victim to a large number of car break-ins, all believed to be done by the same two people. It is reported that more than 100 cars in the area were broken into. In the Inman Park area, residents are concerned about their vehicle and their own safety after the events of the weekend.

According to reports from the residents, they have had a broken gate in the parking garage for quite some time that the owners have been refusing to fix. For several months they felt that incidents would happen at any given time, since the broken gate may as well have been an invitation to robbers. Local government leaders are starting to set up meetings to discuss this case and make plans to better provide and support safety for apartments and condos.

City Council member Michael Bond said that this issue has been prevalent throughout Atlanta.

Councilman Bond himself had a mass robbery happen where he lived a number of years ago, being one of 20 people getting broken into. He is very sensitive to and aware of the frequency of the crime because of this and feels passionately about finding resolutions to stop this crime.

About 10 years ago, Atlanta launched a clean car campaign, but that has not really created a safer environment that prevents car break-ins. Despite this, Atlanta’s police department was able to identify two potential suspects. In the 100 car break-in, at least two guns have been reported stolen. The police are currently operating under the idea that the men are on a hunt primarily for weapons.

Councilman Bond is over the lack of change on behalf of the Atlanta Apartment Association, so he has a meeting scheduled to meet with the group’s leaders. He hopes that together they will be able to create a plan to better protect Atlanta’s residents.

People are also pushing for required security cameras to be set up in different places around all residential properties in order to, ideally, ward off any potential robbers but also catch them more easily if they do still break into vehicles.

In the meantime, residents mostly want apartment owners to take accountability for the part they played by making the break-ins easier.