Raleigh police chief says young people getting shot and ‘not all living to tell the story’
Shootings rose slightly in Raleigh in 2020, and many of those getting shot and doing the shooting were young people, the city’s police chief said this week.
“We are seeing younger people who are victims,” Chief Casandra Deck-Brown told the Raleigh City Council on Tuesday. “We are seeing younger people who are suspects.”
“And not all of them are living to tell the story,” she said.
The chief did not respond to a request from The News & Observer for an interview Wednesday. Here are some of the highlights from the annual report she gave the council.
Was crime up or down in Raleigh?
The short answer: Down
The long answer: Crimes against property fell 8.8% last year and crimes against people fell 9.7% compared to the previous year if you take population into consideration.
Reported burglaries, robberies and larcenies in 2020 were the lowest they’ve been since 2016. Reported arson, rapes, aggravated assaults and homicides were down compared to 2019 but higher than previous years going back to 2016.
Reported motor vehicle thefts were the highest in 2020 compared to the last four years.
Was there more gun violence in Raleigh last year?
How many people got shot: 106, six more than in 2019. Most of the shooting victims and suspects were under 34 year old.
“The community has got to recognize that there is something to be said and done when we are seeing our youth who are committing the number of crimes and the firearms that are connected to some of these crimes,” Deck-Brown said.
How many people got killed? There were 28 homicides in 2020, compared to 31 in 2019.
Police have solved a “ginormous” number of those homicides, but some have been “disturbing,” the police chief said.
“God rest his soul, we had a UPS driver (killed) making a delivery,” she said.
Last year also saw a record 224 guns stolen from vehicles, though 61 were recovered.
What about traffic stops?
Down but disproportional: Traffic stops dropped by nearly half in 2020, mostly due to fewer people driving during the COVID-19 pandemic. There were 26,265 traffic stops compared to 47,084 in 2019.
But while Black people make up 29% of the city’s population, they accounted for 57.5% of the traffic stops made in 2020. White people make up 58% of the population but accounted for 37.7% of the traffic stops.
The discrepancy isn’t caused by bias, Deck-Brown told the council.
“While I said there was no bias there is perhaps disproportionality,” she said. “I think that is very obvious. But when there is no bias it gives us an opportunity to look at other factors.”
The Police Department puts more officers in areas with more crimes, which may impact communities of color, she said.
“We do acknowledge that there was a greater number of African Americans stopped in the city of Raleigh,” Deck-Brown said. “It is possible this could be attributed to the location where calls for service for violent crime occurred, as well as there is a correlation between the location of traffic stops and the location of violent crimes such as aggravated assaults involving firearms.”
City Council member Corey Branch asked for demographic data about who received citations versus being let go with a warning, and said there is more work to be done.
“Black men are being stopped, for whatever reason, and being a Black male and having a nephew who is driving now — and he’s driving a sports car — that concerns me,” he said.
Why did people call 911 in 2020?
A total of 176,740 calls were placed to 911 in 2020, or about 20,000 fewer calls than in 2019.
The Police Department broken down the top three reasons why people called 911 broken by police district.
In five out of six districts, a car crash was the top reason for a call to 911. And in the sixth district, it was the second-highest reason. The top reason people called police in the southeast district was to talk to an officer, which ranked second or third in every other district.
A “disturbance” made the top three in the northeast and downtown districts, while “alarm/burglar/commercial” was listed in the top-three for the north and northwest districts.
Loud noise complaints were in the top-three for the southwest district, and domestic was the third reason in the southeast district.
What about the protests last year?
There were 114 arrests with 163 charges in various protests and riots last year.
There were 143 breaking and entering reports, 10 reported arsons and 93 reports of damage to property.
This story was originally published March 10, 2021 at 4:32 PM.
