VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — Virginia Beach Police Department Chief Paul Neudigate told 13News Now in a one-on-one sit down that the city's violent crime numbers are the "best numbers" the city has seen in five years.
On Tuesday, Chief Neudigate presented a 2022 review of crime statistics to the city council, in a report that ranged from property to violent crimes and other data points.
Total violent crimes are down, despite an increase in two categories
Across a collection of four categories -- homicide, rape, aggravated assault and robberies -- total numbers are down in 2022 compared to 2021.
“In 2021, there were 582 'Part One' violent crimes. Last year, there were 510. That is a reduction of 12%. So we have to look at total, not just individual categories, to get a true picture of where we’re at, at the Beach," Chief Neudigate said.
While the total number across those four categories collectively is down, homicides and robberies are up year-over-year.
Homicides rose by eight, and robberies by 20 from 2021 to 2022. The clearance rate for those homicides is above the national average, according to Chief Neudigate.
“National average, only 54% of homicides are cleared with an arrest, so only one of two. The City of Virginia Beach in 2021: 86.7%. In 2022, we currently sit at 78.3, so of the 23 homicides, we successfully cleared 18 of them.”
Neudigate cited another violent crime statistic decrease: the number of total shooting victims.
"That’s both fatal, and non-fatal. We have a reduction in that. Seventy-five shooting victims in 2021, 64 last year. Unfortunately, what we’ve seen: fewer shooting victims, increased lethality," he said.
Marijuana sales impact?
Neudigate cited the hazy future of Virginia's legal marijuana sales are creating confusion, and potentially impacting violent crime in the city.
“[Of the] 23 homicides in 2022, seven are drug-related. Six of those seven are related to marijuana sales in the City of Virginia Beach. We have this unknown status of marijuana laws in the Commonwealth, and people feel it's legal to sell, traffic it. What we’re seeing is marijuana is largely unregulated, and it’s a cash-money business. Many of those sales are turning into robberies, into shootings, and deaths," he said.
Property crimes increase, but normalize to pre-pandemic times
The data bears out that property crimes are on the rise compared to recent years. But Neudigate said in a larger context, those numbers are returning to pre-pandemic levels.
“Going to be up from the last two years, but it’s regressed back to where we were at in 2019-2020."
Property crimes -- including commercial and residential burglary, motor vehicle theft, larceny from motor vehicles and all other larcenies -- are within 100 incidents of 2019 numbers.
Chief Neudigate cited the implementation of new license plate scanning technology as a key addition in helping solve a lot of the crimes they have last year.
Estimates also point to as many as 40% of motor vehicle thefts have happened when there is a key fob present.