GREENSBORO, N.C. — Greensboro police have seen a rising trend in some categories of violent crime this year.
On Friday, Greensboro Police Chief John Thompson along with city leaders laid out their plan to reverse the rising trends in violent crime.
Year-to-date, Greensboro has seen 36 homicides, compared to 41 in all of 2022.
The city is quickly closing in on 2020, which was a record year for GPD with 61 homicides.
As of July 2, 2023, Greensboro has also seen a rise in other categories, including:
- Sex offenses: 14 Year to date, +75% from July 2022
- Stolen property: 229 Year to date, +149% from July 2022
- Kidnapping: 41 Year to date, +37% from July 2022
Conversely, there have been several categories that have seen a decrease in crime, including:
- Aggravated Assault: 958 Year to date, -3% from July 2022
- Robbery with a firearm: 113 Year to date, -23% from July 2022
- Drug/Narcotic offenses: 1089 Year to date, -30% from July 2022
Chief Thompson says the department will be realigning units to focus on violent crime.
The department will utilize its violent crime reduction team to focus on what they call "priority offenders."
They will also increase vehicle stops, directed patrols, and visibility in areas of high crime.
"We need to position our officers in locations where we know there is a higher likelihood of crime to occur in hopes that they can build relationships with that community, perhaps gain information that will help us, and provide our officer's opportunities to intervene, with his high priority offenders who are taking guns into the community," said Chief Thompson.
Dr. Irish Spencer leads Families Against Senseless Killings and knows the pain of losing a loved one.
Her son Trey was shot and killed back in 2016 while breaking up a fight.
She says too many families are answering a knock at the door only to hear someone they love has been killed.
"We got a 56-year-old brother and 21-year-old, they can't pay to bury them. We got calls today on that and over the weekend," said Spencer. "We need to stop having a meeting to have a meeting to have a meeting. That's what we have got to stop doing. We've got to stop saying I'm the only one in this district, everybody is involved now."
Greensboro is not the only major city to see an increase in violent crime this year, Winston-Salem has also seen more homicides than last year.
As of July 7, Winston-Salem police have investigated 29 homicides, compared to 21 during the same time period in 2022.