SAFE in the Media

SAFE welcomes opportunities to share its critical message and propagate its programs designed to allow individuals to take positive, constructive actions to make their communities stronger and safer.

Reporters interested in covering SAFE’s programs and activies or seeking experts to contribute to stories about individual and community crime-prevention efforts should email contact and story information via the Contact page on this website.

Recent media coverage of SAFE includes:

SAFE’s Refuse To Be A Victim(R) Seminar on CBS Atlanta

CBS Atlanta previews SAFE’s Refuse To Be A Victim(R) seminar on December 11th, 2010.  Special thanks to Steve Kiggings for getting this story on the air. Click the link above for video.

Black Friday 2009 Security Alert: Safety drills are already starting
WalletPop.Com (October 2009)

But personal responsibility is as important as retailers’ safety measures. Matthew Podowitz, cofounder of Safe Atlanta For Everyone and a certified Refuse To Be A Victim crime-prevention seminar instructor, provides pointers on safe shopping:

• Stay aware. In potentially risky situations, awareness can mean the difference between getting swept into a confrontation and escaping one.
• Look for warning signs. Mobs don’t suddenly form on their own, Podowitz says; they’re often triggered by the actions of a few individuals who may be belligerent toward an authority figure.
• Trust your intuition. If your gut tells you something isn’t right, put some distance between yourself and the crowd.

You should also have a plan, Podowitz says. “Moving directly with or against the flow of a mob likely won’t get you away from it,” he says. “When planning for the worst, look for routes to one side or the other that you might be able to reach should a mob form in front of or behind you.” Podowitz also recommends choosing a meet-up location, in case you’re separated from your party, such as a nearby parking lot.

Atlanta Resources For Safety
Crime Victims Media Report (September 2009)

Safe Atlanta For Everyone (SAFE) – Founded in East Atlanta in response to a crime wave in the summer of 2008, this organization now operates five innovative programs (SAFEWatch, Graffiti Removal, Safety Tipsheets, Cookies For Cops/Food For Firefighters and Refuse To Be A Victim Seminars) across many neighborhoods in Southeast Atlanta. SAFE’s mission is to create positive ways for individuals to make their neighborhoods stronger and safer. All of SAFE’s programs are designed for “export” to other communities that want to be stronger and safer too. More information is available at http://www.safe-atlanta.org.

Journalist Tina Trent operates Crime Victims Media Report, an important and innovative website offering an alternative view on crime stories reported by the media by taking a second look at news stories, academic studies, and crime policies, by speaking for victims who want to see offenders off the streets, by tracking criminal cases and sentencing through the courts and by becoming a place where police, journalists, crime victims and community activists can come to tell the truth about the impact of crime.

Neighborhood Tweets for Protection
WSB Radio (August 2009)

Click to download audio (4.5 MB)

As residents in the Kirkwood area of Atlanta rally for safety, another East Atlanta neighborhood is using social networking to keep their streets safe.  Safe Atlanta For Everyone (SAFE) began last year, following a rash of crimes in the area.

 

Neighbors Twitter, Blog To Thwart Crime
Associated Press (August 2009)

After a string of kidnappings and home invasions in Atlanta last year, indignant residents founded Safe Atlanta For Everyone, which coordinates a watch network on the city’s east side. Their efforts took on new urgency when the financially strapped city ordered furloughs from December to July, forcing police and other municipal workers to take eight more hours off every week. Block watch members tweet a constant stream of crime alerts to a privacy-protected Twitter address. One of the group’s founders, Donna Williamson, sets out on foot during her lunch break with a cell phone and camera in search of what she calls “Twitter-worthy” behavior.

There’s Strength in East Atlanta
(Atlanta Journal Constitution, February 2009)

One of SAFE’s founding members recently wrote the editor of the AJC to emphasize that Southeast Atlanta residents’ efforts to combat crime are just one of many examples of the community pulling together to face a common challenge. It is important to remember that, as a community, we were supporting each other long before this latest spike in crime.

There’s strength in southeast Atlanta

There has been a lot of media coverage about the response by residents of southeast Atlanta to the recent uptick in crime against persons and property. Often overlooked in that reporting is that one of the greatest strengths of the southeast Atlanta neighborhoods is the manner in which the entire community comes together when its members face any crisis: tornadoes, home fires, economic distress or otherwise.

It should come as no surprise that the southeast Atlanta community is banding together to address a recent spike in crime. Strong communities are safe communities. Southeast Atlanta is one of the strongest communities around and gets stronger every day. That’s why I choose to live here.

MATT PODOWITZ

East Atlanta neighbors stand up against crime
Creative Loafing (February 2009)

If SAFE sounds reminiscent of a neighborhood watch from a bygone era when neighbors actually bothered to learn each other’s names, that’s intentional. But technology has brought improvements. These neighbors also Twitter and blog and use an arsenal of virtual tools to keep each other informed – often in real time – of the latest crimes and suspicious behavior in their community. Instead of waiting for the criminals to come to them, they post mugshots online, swap “be on the lookout” notices by e-mail and even track the whereabouts of shady characters so folks down the block can see them coming.

After a string of kidnappings and home invasions in Atlanta last year, indignant residents founded Safe Atlanta For Everyone, which coordinates a watch network on the city’s east side. Their efforts took on new urgency when the financially strapped city ordered furloughs from December to July, forcing police and other municipal workers to take eight more hours off every week.

Armed with cellphones, flashlights, and Twitter posts, neighbors make a positive difference.
The Christian Science Monitor (January 2009)

Lewis Cartee is careful to address [safety] with the more gung-ho members of his block patrol group in East Atlanta, known as Safe Atlanta for Everyone (SAFE). He calls the group “a glorified neighborhood watch” where he uses Google maps to chart out “beats” for some 40 residents. He says he stresses what he calls “the power of ‘Hey.’”