VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — On Tuesday, Virginia Beach Police Chief Paul Neudigate presented crime data from 2023 to city leaders that showed property and violent crime overall dropped but some crimes like shootings still increased.
Last year, property crime dropped in the city of Virginia Beach, especially when it comes to items being stolen out of people's cars.
In 2022 there were over 3,000 reported thefts from cars and in 2023 there were just over 2,000.
One way Chief Paul Neudigate said they're reducing those numbers is by targeting crime hot spots.
"I think 17,000 plus hot spot patrols throughout the city last year is driving those numbers down," Chief Neudigate said. "So when our folks are in those areas and are highly visible they're not gonna commit those crimes."
Neudigate said other thefts are up in the city and are mainly from 10 locations in the city, including from ABC stores, Pembroke Mall, and Lynnhaven Mall.
"We're very hopeful that retail establishments will work with local law enforcement to decrease those," Neudigate said.
Violent crime is up compared to 2022, but lower than what it was in 2021.
Crimes like rape and aggravated assault did increase while robberies have gone down.
The number of people shot in Virginia Beach has also gone up.
"We had 90 individuals shot last year, 24 had succumbed to their injuries," Neudigate said.
Virginia Beach had the third-fewest number of homicides out of the seven cities in Hampton Roads last year.
Out of the 24 who died, one was a juvenile.
Neudigate said part of what's contributing to an increase in the number of people shot are more multi-victim incidents.
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Hampton Roads 2023 Homicide Tracker
He said 11 shooting incidents last year involved at least two victims.
"Almost half of our homicides were either domestic or negative discharge," Neudigate said. "Where folks are mishandling their firearms and they're discharging that gun and they're killing a friend and family member. I think the message to the community is to learn how to handle that firearm."
Of the 24 total homicides last year, 83% have been cleared, which is above the national average of 52%.
When it comes to traffic, citywide speeding citations increased 30.1% in 2023 from 9,556 to 12,433.
Citywide vehicle crashes are down 6% since 2022 and 15.3% since 2021.
Last year in Virginia Beach, 31 people died in traffic crashes compared to 26 in 2022.
As we continue into 2024 Neudigate said his three goals are to get everyone in the department under one roof, get the department's real-time crime center up and running, and reduce the number of shootings and homicides.
