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Town Hall meeting addresses crime in southern Virginia Beach

Posted at 9:33 PM, Jun 29, 2016
and last updated 2016-06-29 23:21:31-04

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va - Dozens of people attended a town hall meeting on Wednesday night to address crime in the southern part of the city.

Crimes like burglaries, car break-ins, and cars being stolenhave seen an uptick in 2016, leading to Police Chief Jim Cervera to address the issue. Since his letter, the numbers are coming down, according to Capt. Dave Squires from the first police precinct.

"What's changed? We made arrests," said Squires.

Car break-ins brought Pungo resident Mark Michelsen to the meeting. "I had some questions about the thievery that's going on," he said.

Police are now handing out yellow hangtangs that they hope will remind people to lock their doors and keep thieves away from the cars.

"The criminals are looking for an easy mark when they see this they're going to go somewhere else," said Squires.

Some neighbors also said they wanted to see more officers in the area patrolling. Chief Cervera said he's advocated for more staffing city-wide, but that rural areas would always have fewer officers.