Winston-Salem sees overall crime decline since start of year

A group of 35 local, state and federal officials discussed Winston-Salem’s crime decline during a violence reduction roundtable at the Burke Public Safety Center Thursday.

After the meeting, Mayor Allen Joines told reporters that all categories of crime were down in Winston-Salem, with the exception of rape, according to statistics collected by the Winston-Salem Police Department.

Joines noted a 39 percent decrease in homicides in the city between now and the same time last year.

Statistics show that 33 homicides were committed during the same period last year, compared to 20 homicides since the beginning of the year.

According to statistics, the figures for armed robberies, serious assaults, burglaries, break-ins and motor vehicle thefts have decreased compared to last year.

However, statistics show that the number of rapes has increased by almost 31% between 2023 and this year. There were 62 rapes last year, compared to 81 so far in 2024.

Joines also cited the city’s CURE program as a factor in reducing violent crime locally.

“We believe it’s because of the collaboration that took place between the different agencies,” Joines said.

Curtis Friday, program director for CURE (Communities for United for Revitalization and Engagement), told the Journal last month that his group goes into local neighborhoods and talks to “guys on the street who are at risk of getting into trouble or who are gang members.”

The organization also helps local youth find jobs, another factor in reducing homicides and other violent crimes in Winston-Salem, he said Friday.

At the Public Safety Center, representatives from the Winston-Salem Police Department, Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office and the United States Marshals Service attended a 90-minute roundtable with officials from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center and local civic and nonprofit organizations.

Participants discussed what measures are working to reduce crime, what measures haven’t worked, “and what we can do better,” said police spokeswoman Annie Sims.

Reporters and photographers were not allowed to attend the meeting, Sims said, because community leaders and law enforcement officials were discussing sensitive law enforcement strategies.

Local, state and federal law enforcement are working together to reduce crime in Winston-Salem, U.S. Marshal Catrina Thompson of the Middle District of North Carolina said after the meeting.

Thompson, a former Winston-Salem police chief, said she wants to “create communities free of violence so our children and citizens can thrive and live successfully and peacefully…”

The goal of the U.S. Marshals Service is to get violent fugitives off the streets, Thompson said. Federal marshals work with local and state law enforcement as well as community organizations to achieve that goal, Thompson said.

“It is by using our resources and authority, along with those of local law enforcement (agencies), that we will be successful in freeing our neighborhoods and our local community from violent crime,” Thompson said.

Thompson discussed the Sept. 4 shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, in which two students and two teachers were killed. Colt Gray, 14, is charged as an adult with four counts of murder.

Three years ago, on September 1, 2021, William Chavis Renard Miller Jr., a 15-year-old sophomore at Mount Tabor High School, was fatally shot at the school. Maurice Travon Evans, who was 15 at the time, is charged with first-degree murder in Evans’ death.

“We want to do everything we can to identify and understand when something is wrong with one of our kids in one of our schools,” Thompson said.

Additionally, the efforts of Winston-Salem police officers are contributing to a decrease in crime, particularly homicides, said Chief William Penn Jr.

“Good police work and community engagement have led to a decrease in violent crime,” Penn said. “There is still much more to do.”

Al Jabbar, president of the Winston-Salem chapter of the NAACP, acknowledged the reduction in crime in the city.

“But I haven’t heard anything about funding for programs that need money to continue the efforts that they (program administrators) are already involved in,” Jabbar said.

“We’re talking about solving a problem, but we’re not talking about money,” Jabbar said. “It’s going to take money to change the landscape of young people, and I hate that word, ‘at risk.’”

Homicides in Winston-Salem are declining in part because community leaders and residents are identifying shooters to police, Jabbar said.

“Some members of our community tell us they are afraid to leave their homes after dark,” Jabbar said. “This is a problem we need to address.”