Kennesaw police report: fraud up, simple assaults down in October

Kennesaws police chief presented October crime statistics at the Nov. 24 work session, reporting a mixed month for public-safety indicators.

The chief highlighted that fraud offenses increased to 33 from 11 in the same period last year, while simple assaults fell from 31 to 14. Overall Group A offenses decreased from 140 to 130. The department reported increases in dispatch calls and self-initiated activity; traffic citations, warnings, arrests and accident totals for the month were also provided during the presentation.

When a councilmember asked whether the recorded "kidnappings" mostly reflected parental custody disputes, the chief clarified that the category can include custody disputes but also included stranger-to-stranger kidnappings among the reported cases.

Why it matters: Crime statistics provide an overview of public-safety trends and help council and staff allocate resources and public messaging.

Next steps: The chief provided data to the council and invited questions; no additional departmental actions were recorded in the work session transcript.