RICHMOND, Va. -- George Roane's afternoon routine typically consists of strolling through Bellemeade Park to pick his daughter up from school, but recently he's been feeling on edge about his Southside Richmond community.
"I've been in the neighborhood going on six years," Roane said. "[I'm] real concerned, real concerned."
In the past five days, the City of Richmond has seen five homicides, two of which happened just blocks away from Roane's house including one deadly shooting on Overlook Street and another on Drewry Street.
In light of the violence, he said he doesn't feel comfortable allowing his children to play outside in the front yard anymore.
“I think we need more and more patrolmen around here. You seldomly see a policeman around here unless you call," Roane said.
And that's what Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards said happened during "Operation Safe Summer," which was in effect from June 6 - September 8 when crime historically spikes.
In collaboration with state and federal law enforcement agencies, police ramped up patrol in target areas in an effort to suppress violence. Edwards called the operation a success, highlighting that the city recorded its lowest number of summer violent crimes in the past seven years.
That means the numbers of murders, nonfatal shootings, robberies, and aggravated assaults were all down compared to prior years.
Here are the 2023 statistics during the summer period:
- Murders: 13
- Nonfatal shootings: 63
- Robberies: 76
- Aggravated assaults: 182
“So, positive numbers which I think reflect the hard work of the men and women that are behind you today," Edwards said, referencing the dozens of local and state officers who attended the Wednesday press briefing.
But right after the operation ended, Richmond saw the rash of five murders between September 15 and September 19.
“Unfortunately, we do have these, as I mentioned before, spasms of crime that we really don’t have a good handle on right now," Edwards said.
When asked whether the recent shootings proved elements of "Operation Safe Summer" were working and should continue throughout the year, Edwards said the time period was not lost on him.
“We can't just jump every time there's a specific spike. Otherwise, we'd be chasing our tails everywhere. That's why I've spoken about the micro hotspots in our city— breaking down, figuring out where historically our violent crime tends to take place and putting resources there. I think that's a better plan than this," Edwards said.
What Roane would like to see on the streets, are more officers and fewer guns.
"It ain't all about guns. When I was brought up, we fought each other, went back, and played basketball the next day with the same person that we found the day before. Just put the guns down," Edwards said.
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