Violent crime down 8% in Richmond as police tackle city hot spots (2024)

The Richmond Police Department presented quarterly crime figures Wednesday, highlighted by an 8% reduction in violent crime through Sept. 30 compared to the same time last year.

The overall number of violent crime incidents dropped from 794 to 729, including homicides decreasing from 55 to 45, aggravated assaults going from 467 to 443 and rapes falling from 54 to 29. Robberies, however, increased from 135 to 139.

The program, which ran from April 19 through Sept. 6, was a collaboration between local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, that worked to decrease violent crime in at-risk neighborhoods.

Operation Safe Summer resulted in 247 firearms seized, 276 felony arrests and 175 misdemeanor arrests, police said.

Throughout that period, police identified 24 hot spots for gun violence, including Fairfield, Mosby and Gilpin Court. RPD conducts new assessments every six months to determine the hot spots.

“We’re in the right place at the right time: these neighborhoods and these areas where not only we’re focusing on, but if you saw the maps that the ATF talked about, they were in some of these areas as well.” Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards said.

RPD also worked with the ATF and other agencies on an additional operation, which saw another 44 firearms seized, plus nine machine gun conversion devices seized.

Additional briefing notes

Nonfatal shootings were up to 153 after 148 occurred last year. Twenty of those incidents involved juveniles compared to 18 in 2023.

Overall property theft incidents made a small increase from 7,021 to 7,084. Shoplifting and burglary numbers were up while motor vehicle thefts and theft of motor vehicle parts and accessories went down.

On the road, 13 traffic fatalities have occurred so far this year in the city, down from 22 at the same time last year.

“While we’re excited about the big reductions we’re seeing, we know that 13 is still way too many, and the goal of Vision Zero is zero traffic deaths,” Edwards said.

Shockoe safety

From Aug. 9 through Sept. 6, the Operation Safe Summer program implemented a focus on Shockoe Bottom following an Aug. 2 homicide on 20th Street.

Area precincts also expressed concerns about the number of people openly carrying firearms in Shockoe Bottom, which factored into RPD deploying additional resources to the area.

RPD began closing off some streets in Shockoe Bottom to vehicular traffic on Friday and Saturday nights beginning at 9 p.m.

During Wednesday’s crime briefing, a video clip from a community member was shared that appeared to show a woman firing a gun into the air outside a Shockoe Bottom establishment.

“That’s the kind of thing that concerns me that could happen in Shockoe Bottom,” Edwards said. “You have multiple people walking around with firearms and multiple people who are engaged in partaking in alcohol and it’s just a recipe for disaster.”

According to RPD, 27% of the 410 guns stolen from cars this year came from Shockoe Bottom and Shockoe Slip.

RPD said an officer was shot on Sept. 19 by a 16-year-old with a gun that was stolen from an unlocked car, an incident that Edwards called a “totally preventable crime.”

The Shockoe focus resulted in 50 guns seized.