NORFOLK, Va. - November 2021, Former Norfolk Police Chief declared the shooting of five people in the Young Terrace neighborhood as a ‘mass shooting’. 3 women were murdered in that shooting. It was one of a series of violent events that set off alarms among Police chiefs throughout the region- responding to the uptick in shootings and violent crime. Nearly a year later, crime numbers are up in nearly every city in Hampton Roads.
News 3’s Barbara Ciara returned to the scene of the mass shooting with News 3 Law Enforcement analyst Larry Boone. Boone has studied the Data of what drives crime and offered his assessment.
Ciara: “To what do you attribute this uptick in gun violence that’s happened just about everywhere?”
Boone: “So right on the onset of COVID particularly in Urban cities, all the resources such as Rec centers, libraries things of that nature show down. Including schools so when you’re in an urban setting and things with respect to resources are limited already- COVID just pulled back the curtain. In terms of economics, so you have folks that are from challenging neighborhoods struggling already, and those resources was cut. Then, you had folks who had children in those areas struggling with school to start with, that was struggling with conflict resolution out in the streets. In addition to that we had a tremendous surge in gun purchase by folks who legally should not have had guns but had them anyway. And today we’re still dealing with that issue.”
Ciara: “How does law enforcement, how do cities, how do communities wrap their heads around this enormous issue?
Boone: “When you’re fully staffed, based on data, there are some things you can do to offset crime okay? Since COVID we are in no position to take any preemptive steps. So, what we’re going to have to do now is rely on the community, rely on technology, rely on non-profit partnerships. We’re not going to get any more cops soon, that’s going to take a very long time So what we must do is think about how to reorganize the department you may have to go two dimensional, meaning you just have patrol and investigations. All those specialty units may have to be place in on hold for a while. That’s problematic as well because you’ll have officers leaving the department to go to other department that still have the K9, the vice, and Narc, etc. So, there’s a lot of things you’re going to have to do by way of people, technology, and some very hard choices. “
Ciara: “With respect to the number of illegal guns that are on the streets, we hear people raise the issue of gun reform- is that a bit like closing the door of the barn after the cow has left? Because you can’t get rid of the guns that are already out there, right?
Boone: “We were measuring the number of people purchasing guns here in Norfolk and those numbers went up big time. With respect to those guns and where they ultimately end up, you’ve heard me talk about this before folks making illegal purchases, straw purchases. And those guns are funneled systematically into the wrong hands. More importantly into the hands of folks who are convicted felons and young people. The reality is the city of Norfolk has hot spots, in those hot spots you have hot people, and they have these hot guns. The guns are on the street the officers are confronted with these almost every single day and every night. I’m surprised that the number of officers involved shootings are not where I would have anticipated them to be with the number of gun recoveries. I know we had a couple in the last two or three months I suspect we’ll have more because there are so many guns out here. “
Ciara: “Solutions?”
Boone: "Too much emphasis has been placed on law enforcement and particularly now where they are so thin, right now they just go from call, to call, to call. No preventative measures are taking place because of the upscale in calls for service and the reduction of staffing, it’s a challenging situation. There’s funding out there for things to address the issues in the community to address law enforcement. The problem is no one wants to do this job anymore. It’s going to take not just city government; it’s going to take the community and all other entities we spoke about earlier to address this. “
