NORFOLK, Va. — 100 days into the new year, homicides across Hampton Roads are plummeting.
It's been years since local crime data has shown reason for such cautious optimism. Hampton Roads had already recorded 74 homicides this time last year, compared to 44 homicides so far in 2024.
It's a drop of about 40% year-to-date.
And it follows a trend being seen so far this year in some cities coast-to-coast.
Right now, homicides are down 20% across nearly 200 American cities, according to Jeff Asher from AH Datalytics.
"The figures from cities with available data so far this year are encouraging — or at least as encouraging as any data on hundreds or thousands of tragedies can be," Asher wrote in a recent analysis.
Which Hampton Roads cities are seeing lower homicide numbers?
Homicides are down in every city but Norfolk, which has one more than this time last year.
Portsmouth accounts for a third of all homicides so far in 2024 and has seen the brunt of violence lately.
Much of our region's improvement can be attributed to the drop in homicides on the Peninsula. Newport News and Hampton have reported a combined eight homicides this year.
Those two cities had already recorded a combined 24 homicides this time last year, three times as many as where they stand today.
One local prosecutor said they attribute this steep but continued decline to the unwinding of the Covid crisis, but noted it is still early in the year.
"The city sample at this point suggests that the decline in murder that began in 2022 is continuing and even potentially accelerating in 2024," Asher wrote. "We'll see if it [holds]."