RICHMOND, Va. -- As the city of Richmond begins the new year, the Richmond Police Department looked back at previous year's crime states, examining what progress they've made in preventing crime and what work still needs to be done.
Richmond Chief of Police Rick Edwards shared both good and bad news Thursday afternoon, beginning with violent crime.
Edwards said overall, violent crime is down 7%, going from 1,095 in 2022 to 1,018 in 2023.
"One of the things we like to do is not just look at year on year, that sometimes doesn't tell the whole story, this is our 7-year threshold, so you see the steady decline," Edwards said, describing the graph below.
He said he while he is pleased non-fatal shootings are down 26%, with 257 in 2022 compared to 190 in 2023, he is not satisfied with homicide rates rising 8%.
In 2022 there were 59 homicides and in 2023 there were 64.
Edwards said in an effort to get that number down, the department plans to continue to get more guns off the street by working with community partners and continuing community outreach with mediators.
However, one thing he said is slightly changing will be their approach to officer patrolling. They will begin narrowing down even more of the areas where many of these crimes occurred and have more officers present.
"They go to these hot spots and for 10 to 15 mins stand out there, sit in their car, engage the public, it's not an enforcement strategy, but it does two things - it makes the criminals see the officers in these higher crime, high gun crime areas and the criminals can change behavior and also as important probably just as important to me is that it makes the good folks feel safer," said Edwards.
While the theft of guns from cars has decreased by 10%, Edwards said the number of guns stolen is still way too many. "In 2022 we had 714 stolen out of cars, this year it's a 10% reduction with 644 but 644 guns on our streets," he said.
He presented a heat map of hot spots in Richmond for gun thefts.
"The blinking light there is Shockoe Bottom and there's a couple of reasons for that. Obviously, Shockoe Bottom has a lot of nightlife, people bring guns down to the city, they go into clubs knowing they're going to be searched or patted down or wanded and they can't bring their guns in there, so they leave them in the car," he said. "We're just begging people if you come to the city don't bring your guns to Shockoe Bottom because thieves know that and as soon as packs of thieves get."
Another major increase Edwards spoke about was car thefts, with an increase of 68% and two types of cars being the main reason behind the huge jump.
"This year 848 of our 1578 are either a Kia or a Hyundai, and it's incredibly challenging, we are utilizing technology to try and arrest thieves," said Edwards.
Richmond Police do have car locks specifically for Kias and Hyundai's that are available for residents to pick up at any of the precincts.
Another thing they're giving away for free are gun safes. Chief Edwards emphasized how crucial they can be in preventing gun violence.
For more information on how to get a gun safe, you can call 804-516-0451.
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