Raleigh Officials Say Downtown Security Measures Are Working

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Good morning, readers.

As residents retreated from offices and restaurants downtown during the pandemic, and came back slowly, downtowns across the Triangle suffered, including Durham’s and Raleigh’s.

A year and a half ago, a group of downtown Raleigh business owners brought their concerns about security to the City of Raleigh’s Safe, Vibrant and Healthy Communities committee. In response, the city acted quickly, hiring private security officers and working to loop more businesses into its CONNECTRaleigh camera program where they could share security camera footage with the Raleigh Police Department. 

The city’s efforts are working, RPD’s new police chief Rico Boyce told the city council last week. Violent crime is down 3 percent over year to date and property crime is down 29 percent. RPD is also taking more security measures including using a team to serve warrants on “individuals that have committed some very serious offenses” and having police officers patrol downtown on foot and on E-bikes to be more visible and respond more quickly. RPD has also fully invested in staffing its ACORNS crisis co-response unit.

While RPD says these efforts are working, community advocates say they’re concerned about over-policing, including adding more cameras in disproportionately Black communities, displacement, funneling more people into the justice system, and prioritizing ACORNS over Raleigh CARES, a crisis response program that’s independent of the police department.

“In order to truly create safety, law enforcement has got to be willing to extract itself from situations, like a mental health crisis, where they often exacerbate the incident and further destabilize the person in need,” says Dawn Blagrove, the executive director of nonprofit Emancipate NC which works to dismantle structural racism and end mass incarceration across the state. 

Read more below and have a good Tuesday.

 —Jane

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