(UPDATED WITH CORRECTED STATISTICAL INFORMATION)

Recent burglaries and related crimes were on everyone’s minds Wednesday night when Sandy Springs City Council members Chip Collins and Karen Meinzen McEnerny hosted a town hall meeting at Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School’s theatre.

Police Chief Terry Sult and several of his officers spoke on the August increase in burglaries in Collins’ and Ms. McEnerny’s districts (3 and 6, respectively, which cover the south central and southwest parts of Sandy Springs). More than 100 people attended the meeting, where police also announced the Monday arrest of three burglary suspects.

Burglaries in the south district (council Districts 3, 5 and 6) are down 5 percent in June through August compared to the same period last year.

Lt. Scott Jamison, the south district commander, said this year the south district had 74 burglaries in June through August and 78 in the same months in 2009. But Ms. McEnerny said her district had 10 burglaries in July and 15 in August.

“That definitely concerns me,” she added.

According to Sult, District 6 had 13 residential and commercial burglaries in July and 10 in August. District 3 had five in July and 14 in August.

Officers urged residents to communicate with their neighbors and the police on suspicious behavior.

“We have received some good info from the neighborhoods and encourage people to do that,” Lt. Keith Zgonc said. “If you see someone out of the ordinary, we would rather you call 911 and have it be nothing than find out two to three days later that you were talking to a burglar.”

Officers gave residents tips on avoiding burglaries, including: installing door jams to prevent doors from being kicked in, testing and updating security alarms, locking windows, keeping outside lights on from dusk until dawn and keeping trees and bushes trimmed off windows so one can see outside.

Residents, including some who live near burglarized homes, raised their concerns during a question-and-answer session. One man asked if there were any home invasions.

“We had a woman operating a business in the basement of her home and she heard a person upstairs,” Sult said. “She went up upstairs, saw a man and was punched in the face by the man, who left.”

JoAnn Rau represents the Mount Paran-Northside Citizens Association, which includes more than 1,000 homes in Sandy Springs and northwest Atlanta.

“I’m upset with the [e-mailed] BOLOs [“be on the lookout”] for the last two days,” she said. “We’ve had a lot of smash-and-grab [burglaries]. The woman who was punched could eventually turn into someone [getting] a knife to the stomach.

“A burglar entered a vacant home, found kids in the basement and ran upstairs, into the mother. Our neighbors are really frightened that weapons will be part of this and things will escalate.”

Both Collins and Ms. McEnerny said they were pleased with the residents’ turnout at the meeting.

“I thought it went great,” Collins said. “It showed that public safety is the No. 1 concern and should always be the No. 1 priority in any city.”