ATLANTA — Atlanta's police chief says her department will not be a "pawn in political shenanigans."
On Tuesday night, Channel 2 Action News told you that former city council member Mary Norwood hand-delivered a letter demanding action on increasing crime.
Channel 2's Matt Johnson broke the story and learned the department is pointing the finger at local judges who keep releasing repeat offenders.
"Buckhead is under a crime increase that is dramatic and it is concerning and I want everyone in the administration to know that and that begins with Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms," Norwood told Johnson.
While the letter was addressed to the mayor, Atlanta police Chief Erika Shields felt compelled to respond and defend her department.
"We're better than this.This city's better than this. But more than anything else, if not for me, for the men and the women who go out there every day and risk their lives: Stop with this foolishness," she said.
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Six Buckhead garages became the latest targets for a trio of thieves early Wednesday morning.
Video from one house off Howell Mill Road shows how thieves were able to drive off with a family's SUV.
Jaquantay Campbell, 26, is one of the two people arrested after a Georgia State Patrol chase ended in East Point.
Officers in Buckhead's Zone 2 have made six times the number of car break-in arrests compared to this point last year.
Deputy police Chief Jeff Glazier said he knows why.
"If you were to commit this crime in any other county in the state of Georgia, you would be serving serious time," he said.
Campbell's arrest Wednesday is his ninth arrest on theft charges in the past 10 years.
Police arrested Terry Kelley, 28, on Monday after a foot chase in Buckhead for breaking into cars
"He was previously arrested for murder, he served time for voluntary manslaughter, he's a convicted felon; when we captured him, he had three handguns in his car," Glazier said.
Charlie Morgan owns an SUV that thieves stole Wednesday before police found it.
He said there's hope that crime in his area will go down.
"I've got full confidence in Zone 2," he told Johnson.