PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WVEC) – Dozens of Portsmouth police officers and other members of the Rapid Engagement of Support in the Event of Trauma, or R.E.S.E.T., team hit the streets on Wednesday. This time in the Brighton Neighborhood where 37-year-old Adrian Smith was shot and killed on George Washington Highway Sunday evening.
“We just heard bangs and everybody ducked down,” says resident Robert Flood about taking cover with his family from the gunfire down the street that killed Adrian Smith.
“I winded up walking down there. So I seen when they put the sheet on them and everything,” says his sister Patricia Pindell
It’s a sight she says she can't forget.
“It was just on my mind the whole night though,” she says.
That’s why staff with the Portsmouth Department of Behavioral Health are speaking with her and her neighbors today.
“I urge people not to stuff the feelings and emotions but to find somebody to address and process those feelings with,” says Richard Liverman with the Portsmouth Department of Behavioral Health.
Including the dozens of police officers and other R.E.S.E.T team members, who's goal since it formed seven months ago has been to help residents heal and cope after a traumatic event like Sunday's shooting.
“I ain't never had the police actually come up and do that,” says Jamel Pindell about his visit from the R.E.S.E.T team.
It's the third time the team has hit the streets, knocking on doors, trying to gain trust from those that listen.
“They got to understand us too,” says Johny Craw who lives in the neighborhood. “When we looking out and calling for them it take a long time for somebody in trouble stuff like that they take their time.”
Time is also what it will take to reduce crime says the Portsmouth police chief, Tonya Chapman.
“It's a work in progress,” says Chapman.
According to the most recent Uniform Crime Report, total crime in Portsmouth is up 16% over this time last year and up 22% over the five year average. For the entire year, sexual assaults have increased 91%, but homicides have decreased by more than half to 69%.
“We're still working through the crime issues,” Chapman says. “So that hasn't shown any positive traction.”
“It seems like it ain't never going to change,” Flood says.
However change Chapman says begins with residents like Flood, or at least with them willing to have a conversation.
“Silence breeds violence,” she says. “So if they're not reporting the crime it will just precipitate and keep happening.”
Anyone who may have more information about the fatal shooting involving Adrian Smith or any crime that has occurred in Portsmouth should call the Crime Line at 1-888-LOCK-U-UP.