Violent crime in Durham rose 30 percent during the first six months of the year, compared with the same time period in 2013.
Up 50 percent, aggravated assaults are the primary driver of that increase, according to Durham Police Deputy Chief of Operations Larry Smith. He presented a six-month crime summary to City Council on Monday night.
The most recent aggravated assault occurred just a few hours before the Council meeting. Around 12:30 p.m., police announced someone in a gray Chevy Impala had fired shots in the direction of a Church’s Chicken on Fayetteville Street near N.C. Central University. One man was seriously injured.
It’s important to note that aggravated assaults are counted by the number of potential and actual victims, not the number of incidents. If DPD counted incidents, the increase in aggravated assaults would be 32 percent.
Other violent crime statistics released today include:
Homicides are at a three-year-low.
Robberies are up 7 percent
Rapes have increased 11 percent
Property crimes have increased 8 percent. The breakdown is as follows:
Burglaries are up 16 percent
Larcenies have increased 6 percent
Vehicle crimes have dropped 15 percent
Since January, DPD has received 5,375 Priority 1 calls. The average response time was 5.95 minutes, which is longer than the target of 5.8 minutes.
Of these calls, police reached the scene under 5 minutes 52.4 percent of the time. That’s short of the 57 percent goal that DPD has established.
Durham City Council will discuss the City Manager’s recommendations on building trust and transparency at DPD on Thursday at its 1 p.m. work session.