Report: Overall crime is down in Wilmington, however violent crimes are up

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Violent crimes are up in Wilmington, but the overall crime rate is the lowest it has been in nearly three decades.

Police Chief Donny Williams presented the crime data to City council on Tuesday.

In 2020, Wilmington broke its record for homicides in one year with 22. The previous record was 20 set in 2017.

Violent crimes are up from 2019, murders increased by 10, robberies by 15, and aggravated assaults by nine.

However, property crimes like burglary, larceny, and car theft are down significantly to 319 from 2019.

These crimes are all classified as part one crimes. Williams says part one crimes are at their lowest since 1993.

Mayor Bill Saffo says he still considers the city to be safe.

“We’ve definitely had an uptick, we definitely are concerned about it, are definitely going to address it and continuing to address it and going to bring all the resources that we have as a community and as a city to help us solve and to take care of a lot of the crimes that take place,” Saffo said.

in most cases, Saffo says the people involved in these crimes knew one another so there’s minimal concern for someone committing random acts of violence in the city.

There is a concern for people under the age of 18 involved in violent crimes, whether it be teens involved in gang activity or taking the law into their own hands.

“We as a community have to do better in how we engage young people and how do we give people more opportunities,” Saffo said. “That’s one of the reasons we as a city are looking as this ‘Rise Together Initiative’ to really get into the community to determine what are the specific needs. We’ve always known that education is a big need, we’ve also known healthcare, being able to get a good-paying job is important.”

This is not something the city or police department can tackle alone. Saffo adds it will be a community effort from the county, schools, businesses, and more.

“Chief Williams will tell you this as well as former Chief Evangelous, they can’t solve these crimes by themselves,” Saffo said. “They need the communities to help in solving a lot of those crimes.”

Williams also noted that murders are up across the state and country. His theory is that it may be connected to the pandemic.

Wilmington PD’s solve rate is higher than the national average for homicides. Wilmington is 78 percent while nationally it is only 63 percent.