Richmond, Va. (Newsradiowrva.com) - The Richmond Police Department on Thursday afternoon went over progress made in preventing violent crime.
Richmond Chief of Police Rick 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.
While Edwards said he was pleased that non-fatal shootings are down 26% – 257 in 2022 compared to 190 in 2023 – he’s not satisfied with homicide rates rising 8%. In 2022, there were 59 homicides and in 2023 there were 64.
Edwards said the Department plans to drive down that number by continuing to get more guns off the street by working with community partners and continuing community outreach with mediators.
He said officers will be modifying their approach to patrolling. They will begin honing in on even more of the areas where many of these crimes occurred and having 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.
