GREENSBORO, N.C. — The City of Greensboro and the Greensboro Police Department addressed a rise in violent crime in 2019 and what they are doing to solve it.
Violent crime includes homicides, assaults with weapons, shooting into unoccupied dwellings such as businesses and unlawful discharge of a firearm.
Greensboro Police Chief Wayne Scott's focused particularly on addressing gun violence in the city.
"We've had 17 homicides thus far in 2019," Chief Scott said, later explaining that 11 of them alone were gun-related.
Chief Scott explained the importance of the GunStoppers program, which began two years ago in partnership with the Guilford County CrimeStoppers, in reducing illegal use of guns in our communities.
"We provide a particular incentive with those who will give us information that leads us to removing an illegal gun from the streets," he said.
An "illegal gun" is one that has been altered, is in violation of the law for civilian use, or a gun in possession by someone without the right to own the gun, like a convicted felon.
Since January 1, 2019, GPD has seized 500 illegal guns in the Greensboro city limits and that number could very well increase.
GPD has been accepted into a federal forensics program, which Chief Scott says will speed up forensic data processing, aiding investigations.
The program allows GPD to have in-house forensic analysis of guns, shell casings and ammunition for a match or verification of use in multiple crimes.
"It took us weeks and months to verify that information," Chief Scott said. "As of about two weeks ago, we can do that in a matter of days, sometimes a week."
Chief Scott explained that this isn't the first time he's seen crime situations like this in his “30+ years of experience." Instead, he added, "what’s unique is the number of fire arms we’ve seen on the streets.”
The police department urges anyone to approach Crime Stoppers and local law enforcement with information that would help solve any crime.
“Sometimes folks see something, but they don’t know the importance of what they’ve seen right in that moment," Chief Scott explained. "It’s important they reach out to Crime Stoppers, they reach out to the detective working the case.”