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Raleigh police chief plans for more people, programs to reduce gun violence

Police Chief Estella Patterson outlined for the city council her plan to put more officers in the most dangerous areas and to reduce gun violence in Raleigh by 30% over the next few years.

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By
Matt Talhelm
, WRAL reporter
RALEIGH, N.C. — In 2022, the City of Raleigh recorded its highest number of homicides in a single year. Both homicides and robberies from businesses were up, although violent crime overall was down.
On Friday, Police Chief Estella Patterson outlined her plan for the city council to put more officers in the most dangerous areas – Capital Boulevard north of the Beltline and two areas along New Bern Avenue – to reduce gun violence in Raleigh by 30% over the next few years.

Patterson has asked community groups and nonprofits to consider partnering with the Raleigh Police Department to provide gun awareness and anger management training to youth, and the department is working with the state on a new gun safety program to provide more gun locks around the city, even to young people in schools.

"We have far too many instances, I believe, where individuals are just indiscriminately firing shots, and our messaging has to continue to be around gun safety," the chief said.

More officers will also be deployed.

"We need to be more visible," Patterson said.

Her plan is a reaction to complaints that officers are not present where gunshots are commonly heard, where the drug trade and prostitution are happening.

"The community is really driving where we need to be," she said.

Getting guns out of criminal hands

The most frequent spots where guns are stolen from vehicles are Brier Creek, Glenwood South and Triangle Town Center and apartments surrounding the mall, the data shows.

Officers confiscated 938 weapons in 2021. That number jumped 18% last year.

"Our officers are seeing an increase in assault-style rifles on the streets as well as extended magazines, drum magazines and that kind of thing with ammunition in them," Patterson said.

Police and the city are partnering with the Raleigh-Apex NAACP to launch a new Gun Violence Interrupter program. A five-member team of unarmed "violence interrupters" is being trained and should hit the streets this spring.

"It’s all about relationships and having an opportunity to de-escalate and prevent any type of retaliation that takes place when violence occurs in our community," said Raleigh-Apex NAACP President Gerald Givens.

Violent crime in Raleigh was down overall by 2 percent from 2021 to 2022. The city saw fewer robberies of people and fewer sex offenses.

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