Former mayor: Raleigh’s new city council should make this their top priority | Opinion

Raleigh’s new mayor and city council, sworn in Monday, face an unexpected and defining leadership challenge. With Police Chief Estella D. Patterson announcing she will retire in March, our elected representatives have a crucial opportunity to lead out of the gate by prioritizing public safety.

Raleigh’s voters in every council district, neighborhood and business area overwhelmingly elected candidates committed to public safety. They expect their new council to deliver.

Across the capital city, residents, workers and visitors expect to feel safe so they can do their best for their families, friends, neighbors, colleagues and our economy. Public safety must be the city council’s top priority, as the nonpartisan group Citizens for a Safe & Secure Raleigh has argued.

Despite Raleigh’s successes and accolades, recent city councils have not adequately focused on their most important job: keeping citizens safe. As a result, crime is on the rise. In the first six months of 2024, Raleigh saw several crimes reach 10-year highs, including assault, motor vehicle theft and weapons violations. Homicides were up 78% during the same period.

Raleigh is fortunate to have had a capable and accomplished police chief, supported by a cadre of able and engaged police officers. But the Raleigh Police Department is understaffed, in some cases inadequately equipped and requires the best possible training. When Raleigh’s people feel safe and secure, we can make better progress on jobs, housing, parks, transportation and homelessness. But without public safety first, little else can advance.

Our new city council must face this responsibility squarely. The nonprofit Raleigh Police Department Foundation has played a key role in supporting our law enforcement officers, but funding the city’s most important department is not its purpose. That’s the council’s job.

Raleigh is America’s third-fastest-growing big city, but our police force has fallen far behind. Our city’s rapid growth in recent years has outstripped its public safety services.

As a result, our per capita public safety staff and police pay lag our peer cities considerably. Raleigh’s population grew 13% since 2014, but the city added only 3% more police department staff, compared to a 20% surge in other city positions.

Despite serving North Carolina’s second-largest city, police in Raleigh earn $23,000 less per year than officers in Charlotte. Six smaller North Carolina cities pay officers more. Meanwhile, Durham raised its police pay 22% this year.

Even at the comparatively smaller Raleigh Police Department, vacancies are significant. Consequently, our officers are spread too thin to deter rising crime and to respond adequately to emergencies.

The public senses this situation. More than half of Raleigh’s voters this year feared that crime would intensify in their neighborhoods, and almost three-fourths expect it to worsen downtown, an April survey found. Fully two-thirds of city voters rated crime as very important. They’re right.

As Raleigh continues to grow, so too will the potential for crime and conflict like that plaguing so many of our nation’s other cities. We’re at a crucial turning point in our city’s evolution. Raleigh should lead on public safety.

Our newly elected city council must step up to support our police officers and other public safety personnel, making sure they have the staffing, training, equipment and resources necessary to serve the public effectively.

I urge the new council to develop a bold, forward-thinking plan for more robust public safety across our growing city.

This commitment should include appropriate public safety staffing and compensation; superior police training, facilities, and equipment; close cooperation with community partners to address homelessness; and honor for injured and fallen officers and their families.

A safe city is healthy, productive and attractive. Unsafe cities, on the other hand, cannot prosper in the long run.

Our new city council has a clear mandate from voters across Raleigh. I urge them to embrace this charge and take firm, undaunted action to make the city we all love safer, more secure and stronger for everyone. After all, that’s job one.

This story was originally published December 13, 2024 at 12:00 AM.