'Too many children involved in very adult crimes': Durham police chief discusses troubling trend in crime report

The city council provided new insight into Durham's crime rate on Thursday afternoon. It includes a disturbing trend involving children.

The quarterly crime report gives city council members a roadmap of how to move forward and address trends the police department is seeing in the city.

"It's an important report we'll be hearing this afternoon because it gives us a roadmap as how to better and more intelligently deploy resources," said Mayor Pro Tempore Mark-Anthony Middleton.

On Thursday, WRAL News asked Police Chief Patrice Andrews what the city's biggest problem is right now and what keeps her up at night.

"There are way too many of our children involved in very adult crimes," Andrews said.

WRAL News looked at the fourth quarter crime report, which shows violent crime decreased by 10% in a number of categories from October to December of last year. However, the report shows the ages of people committing crimes skew very young.

The report shows that children as young as 9 years old are involved in serious offenses like burglary.

"You still have to remember they're just kids," Andrews said. "They're just kids. So, that's what keeps me up at night."

Last year, six 17-year-olds were believed to have committed homicides. Five 14-year-olds had weapons violations.

"I'm very concerned about our children, [and] their quality of life when they get to be older," Andrews said.

Data from police shows children are also becoming victims of crime, too, with seven being shot in 2023.

Last year, there were 24 people younger than the age of 18 who were shot, according to the data.

Middleton said it’s a problem that needs to be addressed across the board. He said it's disturbing that victims of crime and perpetrators of crime are getting younger. Middleton said it's a wakeup call.

"That's not a law enforcement issue with our children," he said. "That's an education issue. It's an opportunity issue. It's a love issue."

The numbers are also a concern for Sherard Johnson, who started a nonprofit called RNS Sports Inc. six years ago to help give kids more to do.

"We give them a sports outlet, but we also do mentoring programs," Johnson said.

Johnson said two kids in his program were murder victims.

"A lot of times parents are trying to make ends meet, and so, they are not home to spend time with their children, and so [the kids] have a lot of idle time and they can go be in the streets and do other things," Johnson said.

Johnson thinks the city needs more programs like his to make a dent in the numbers.