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ALBANY, GA -- New lofts are coming to downtown Albany but some have voiced concerns about living in that area, saying there is too much crime downtown.

“Safety is just a perception that people have of downtown that it's not safe. In reality, downtown is a safe place,” says Downtown Manager Aaron Blair. “It's frustrating in a sense that people harp on it all the time when a lot of people who harp on that haven't experienced it for themselves.”

The Albany Police Department says downtown Albany is one of the safest places to be, and they have the statistics to back it up.

According to statistics on APD’s website, Albany’s Central District – where downtown is located – reported 306 violent crime cases out of the 722 total for the city in 2010. Violent crime is considered homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault according to APD

1,542 of Albany’s 5,052 property crime cases (arson, burglary, larceny, auto theft) occurred in the Central District.

“But if you border off the areas that are considered the downtown area, you will see there has been little to no criminal activity within those boundaries,” says APD Media Manager Phyllis Banks.

To make people feel safer as businesses begin to bustle downtown and nightlife grows, the Albany Police Department is ordering new equipment and putting more officers on duty.

“There is a plan to increase foot patrol in the area once the growth in downtown Albany... once we start to see that growth in the downtown Albany area,” says Banks.

Even without the new safety measures, some people already feel safe roaming downtown Albany.

“To me I feel like the amount of crime we have in Albany is equally dispersed over the entire city. I don't feel like I hear more about downtown being an unsafe place,” says Casey Perkins who works downtown at Lemonade Marketing.

Perkins says he feels comfortable working and walking downtown, as do his coworkers.

“I'm down here for work every day and I come down here whenever there's an event. I feel just as safe here as I do in Northwest Albany or anywhere else,” says Kristin McDuffie, also an employee at Lemonade Marketing.

Meghan Duke with the Albany Area Chamber of Commerce says there is a false perception about downtown’s crime rate.

“It's just something that one person said and the next person heard it and told someone else,” Duke says.

And McDuffie says that one person who says something negative about the downtown area causes a snowball effect.

“Negativity breeds and I think one person's perception the more you talk about it, it just becomes this big thing that everyone thinks,” says McDuffie.

Perkins says he wants to see a positive image grow in downtown with the new businesses because he’s anticipating exciting things for the area.

“If they would build some apartments that were nice and places were available, especially with the new businesses that are coming to town I think it's going to be a really fun place to be,” he says.

Duke also expects that as people realize downtown Albany is a safe place to live, opportunity will grow.

“It's great that our downtown is located right by the Flint River so you have riverfront property and it's a huge attraction in places like Savannah and Memphis,” says Duke.

It’s that growth that Blair says will bring more than more police and businesses.

“It's just the lack of people living downtown and the lack of nighttime businesses that makes it easy for any type of crime to happen. When you start to increase the people downtown, that safety, that feeling of safety will come with that,” says Blair. 

What do you think about the idea of living in downtown Albany? Do you think it’s safe? Are you worried about crime?