Raleigh police chief makes recommendations to address rising crime in Glenwood South
When talking about crime in Raleigh’s Glenwood South night-life district, Police Chief Estella Patterson pointed to another state capital across the country.
Last weekend, six people were killed and 12 were injured in a shooting outside a nightclub in Sacramento, Calif.
“I want to make clear that my desire is vibrancy over catastrophe,” Patterson told the Raleigh City Council Tuesday afternoon. “You don’t want the area to be catastrophic. I want people to enjoy being able to go out to Glenwood South and have a night life. But Sacramento was a sobering reality for us that we have to look harshly at measures and be more aggressive in our stance.”
As crime rates in the downtown district set records for the year so far, Patterson made a series of recommendations to the City Council to address crime. Those recommendations include:
▪ Encouraging businesses to use metal detectors to deter people from bringing guns to clubs.
▪ Strengthening the penalties for violating the city’s hospitality district entertainment permit, which covers Glenwood South.
▪ Addressing traffic gridlock and crowds. One specific idea is to make Glenwood South one way to vehicle traffic during weekend night hours.
▪ Continue “Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED)“ principles, which include adding lighting, repairing sidewalks and notifying people in the area when there is an incident.
“I can’t stress it enough that I desire to work collectively, with you, with businesses, with community members in that area to make it the safest area that we can,” Patterson said. “The issues that we’re seeing, at some point I believe, truly, that you’re going to have a national incident. And I don’t want that by any (means). And I don’t think anybody else wants that.”
Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin asked whether the city could require nightclubs in the hospitality district to have metal detectors. City Attorney Robin Tatum said the police and city attorney’s offices are reviewing their options.
“It is a bit disturbing,” said Council member David Knight. “I think it’s a wake-up call. We’re aware of this but we have all seen videos recently, not just here but in other cities.”
Last month after St. Patrick’s Day, someone tweeted a viral video of an alleged drunk driver crashing into parked cars followed by a man following to the ground from an awning. In an unrelated incident that weekend, a man was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries after being shot near the Carolina Ale House, WRAL reported.
Crime in Glenwood South
Glenwood South consists of several blocks of restaurants, nightclubs and bars on Glenwood Avenue between Peace Street on the northern end and Hillsborough Street on the southern end.
The chief showed crime data comparing the 10 months leading up the pandemic and the last 10 months. Since June 2021, there have been 76 weapon violations, including 64 concealed weapon violations. That compares to 16 violations from June 2019 to March 2020.
There also is a sizable increase in traffic-related violations, but Patterson said the department increased enforcement and the number of traffic stops during that time.
Glenwood South tends to draw crowds from other North Carolina cities, including Charlotte, Fayetteville and Greensboro. Over half of the people arrested in the district do not live in Raleigh, Patterson said.
Council member Jonathan Melton said he supports the chief’s recommendations and emphasis on addressing the serious issues.
“There’s a good benefit to the hospitality district with folks coming from out of town,” he said. “But no one is going to want to come here if it’s not safe. So we have to make it safe.”
This story was originally published April 5, 2022 at 8:23 PM.
