PORTSMOUTH, Va. — People in Portsmouth have been seeing fewer instances of property crime, but in the last three months of 2024 they saw eight homicides and an increase in aggravated assaults and people shooting into buildings and cars, according to the Quarterly Chief's Forum with Portsmouth Police Chief Stephen Jenkins.
Jenkins said those statistics, though a mixed bag, resulted in an 11 percent reduction of overall crime in the city this past quarter.
"It's not just about the numbers it's the ability to make people feel safe in their communities, the ability for people to walk the streets and understand that they are safe in their neighborhoods," said Chief Jenkins at Wednesday's forum.
News 3 stopped by downtown Portsmouth Sunday.
"Do you feel safe living in Portsmouth?" News 3 reporter Erika Craven asked residents.
"Absolutely. I definitely feel safe living in Portsmouth. And since I've lived here, since 2018, I feel like the city's been on the up and up," said Patrick Vega of Portsmouth.
That's actually what each Portsmouth resident who stopped to talk to News 3 said.
"I feel safe here. I feel the police are doing everything they possibly can, but there's always more work one can do," said Coleman Young of Portsmouth. "I've lived in Portsmouth 50 years. True I don't go walking around at 2 o'clock in the morning, I kind of watch where I go, but I feel very happy being here."
"There's no other place we'd rather open a business at," said Tim Kenrick, owner of High Street Pizza and Pour House. "It's wonderful down here, it's great. There's a whole cast of characters here that you can't find anywhere else. Everybody looks out for everybody."
But folks said they're fighting a bad reputation since crimes, often sensationalized, happen everywhere, not just in Portsmouth.
"I think it does get a bad reputation. People speak so poorly of it. I know when I first moved to this area and I told people I bought a house in Portsmouth they were like, 'oh my God are you going to be safe? It's horrible.' And so I got nervous. You know, being new to the area I was like what did I just do? What have I done? And I moved here and the community here is incredible," said Sarah Vega of Portsmouth.
Business owners along High Street told News 3 efforts to boost the perception of safety are noticed and appreciated.
"I'm going to say three weeks ago we met the officer that's patrolling the area down here. We got his city cell, we're able to get in contact with him whenever there's an issue. It's been great," said Kenrick.
For some, there's confidence in police efforts, city council, and future casino dollars.
"I'm happy with the leadership of the new city council. I think they're all united. They're behind crime prevention," said Young.
"We've gotten a new city council in recently and with the casino starting to ramp up I think that we're headed in the right direction," said Kenrick.
Though some would like to see more police retention and community involvement.
"I think that's really important is that everybody has to do their part, it just can't be a police problem," said Sarah Vega.
In recent years we've followed along with some of those community-centered efforts, like when the city's Gun Violence Prevention Task Force was established.
Chief Jenkins said his department's seeing improvement in that area too. He said in 2022 they were able to solve 35 percent of shootings but last year that percentage jumped to 61 percent.
"A lot of that can be attributed to communities stepping up and being involved with providing information," said Chief Jenkins.
This year he wants crime rates to fall by at least 15 percent.
Portsmouth Police Department is also working to increase transparency. They're posting crime numbers on their websiteweekly.
