VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — So far this year in the city of Virginia Beach major violent crime is down when compared to the fall of last year.
During a presentation to the city council on Tuesday, Virginia Beach Police Chief Paul Neudigate said so far this year there have been 29 shootings compared to 55 this time last year.
Watch: Crime is down this year in Virginia Beach, chief says
"We have a 47 percent decrease in shooting incidents in Virginia Beach, the best in four years," Chief Neudigate said.
Neudigate also said there have been 10 homicides so far this year compared to 22 by the Fall of 2023.
"Of those 10 we have, 8 are gun-related, 2 are non-gun related, "Chief Neudigate said. "That is a 54.5 percent reduction in homicides."
However not everything is down, Chief Neudigate said robberies are up by five cases compared to 2023.
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He said a large percentage of those cases start as thefts from large stores but when people flee and security guards use force it turns into a robbery.
Thefts from large retail stores are up 4.3 percent, commercial burglaries are up 3.6 percent store, residential burglaries are down 5 percent, and motor vehicle
thefts are down 30 percent.
10 percent of the large retail stores are mostly from ABC stores.
When comparing Virginia Beach to other large cities, Chief Neudigate said its safer than areas like Oakland, Atlanta, Miami, and Long Beach.
Chief Neudigate credits his staff and the implementation of Flock cameras or license plate reading cameras with reducing violent crime.
He hopes city leaders can roll out more in next year's city budget.
"They've solved crimes they are solving homicides and we would ask to see if we could identify funding to increase the number of cameras that are out there," Neudigate said.
Chief Neudigate is also hoping city leaders can remain competitive when it comes to officers' salaries in next year's budget.
