The town of Atlantic, Iowa, known as one of the safest communities in Iowa, still has crime amongst its members. Former Cass and Audubon County Attorney David Wiederstein stands by this after his service in court. Wiederstein has dealt with charges as simple as parking tickets and cases as big as convicted criminals for violence.

Sheriff Darby McLaren has been in the law force for over 20 years and has seen cases like the Griswold murders and survived the time of the meth labs. Mclaren also stands by the thought that Atlantic is one of the safest towns to live in.

In the last year, Atlantic has had the following statistics of crime: four burglary charges, 20 theft, four sexual assaults, eight harassment, nine domestic assaults, 62 drug-related, 10 public intoxications, 38 OWIs, and 12 MIPs. Wiederstein said, “The cases vary depending on seasons. Warmer out then has more people out and more crime.” He believes that the safety of Atlantic stems from the fact that we do not have a “highly concentrated” area of poverty. Both Wiederstein and McLaren have great experience and connection to the crime and safety of Atlantic.

Students of AHS are also not shy about the law and the criminal system. Sophomore Hank Roberts had his moped stolen from out front of his mom’s store. The perpetrator was found on multiple house cameras “whipping cookies” and then trying to “beat up a bank ATM.” Roberts said, “I will never forget to lock up my moped again.” The Roberts family also stores the moped in a shed at night for safekeeping.

Sophomore Zoey Kirchhoff experienced her house broken into and robbed. The robbers got ahold of jewelry boxes, their safe, and other important items/documents. Luckily, the robbers were caught and most of their items were returned after they were found in an alleyway dumpster in the city. Their family now has “very intense” security measures including code alarmed doors, broken window detectors, and motion sensors that when set off call the police. After her experience, Kirchhoff said, “Lock your doors.”

Overall Atlantic has crime but is a “safe town for the majority of the time,” said Wiederstein. At some point, most are bound to run into a crime but as long as those stay aware, they will be safe.

McLaren said, “Everywhere has crime. Cass County has a lower crime rate than most and the crimes we do have are mainly nonviolent. We are almost always safe in Cass County.” The purpose of the crime being made public is to make everyone in the community aware of the dangers but also to reassure you that things are handled by our police and court system.