HAMPTON, Va. — The data presented looks at crime from the beginning of the year until various points in February across multiple years.
“As you can tell by the numbers this time last year, we were substantially higher at this point in the in the year, as well as 2022” Wideman said.
Violent crimes like Murder, Robbery and Aggravated assault saw an increase from 2022 to 2023. But so far this year, the data shows a drastic drop across the board. Chief Wideman says instituting a crime reduction team was key.
“We used saturation patrols, increased patrols, in those areas that had the highest concentration of people,” Wideman said.
Property crimes like larceny, burglary and car thefts reached a height in 2023 but have dropped more than 2 percent in the last two years.
Wideman believes the most frequent property crime last year was ABC store thefts.
“The stores attributed to mostly 60% of the loss leads that we were having and we were accountable," Wideman said.
Wideman would not name any specific neighborhoods where crime may be high but did say patrols have increased around Coliseum Central where two killings have taken place.
“Yes, we are. We've increased our presence here we have a business improvement district, which is a collection of officers that are dedicated to the business community, which includes the commercial areas for restaurants, hotels and things of that sort.” Wideman said.
Wideman said Hampton is middle of the pack when it comes to safety compared to the other cities in the 757, but believes if the downward trend in overall crime continues the city could become one of the safer cities in the area.