WILMINGTON — Wilmington Police Chief Donny Williams presented the 2024 crime statistics to council Tuesday night, which showed a slight increase in violent crime and property crime.
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According to the department’s data, homicides decreased from 13 to 11 — two of these from traffic collisions and one was a justified officer shooting — and robberies decreased from 120 to 89. However, rapes went from 41 to 62 and aggravated assaults from 419 to 444, making the overall violent crime rate increase by 2%.
Williams shared an increase in violent crime can mainly be attributed to domestic relationships, current or former. Domestic violence reports increased by 9% since last year and 34% since 2019; aggravated assaults categorized as domestically related increased 5%.
Relationships exist in many of the rape cases as well, he said. As officers with the WPD told Port City Daily in December, a prior relationship with their abuser can make it more difficult for victims to prove their cases and bring about charges.
Williams reported the 2024 rape total was the second lowest year since 2019, when histenure as chief began.
Earlier this month, Williams announced he would retire by the end of June, in line with a promise he said he made to council to stay on as chief for five years.
The chief spent some time Tuesday elaborating on data-proven areas of success during his time in the role, including the department’s violent crime clearance (or solve) rates from 2019 to 2024. Though a 2024 national rate has not been announced, most of the WPD’s rates are above the 2023 national rate:
- Homicide: WPD 77%, U.S. 58%
- Rape: WPD 27%, U.S. 27%
- Robberies: WPD 32%, U.S. 28%
- Aggravated Assault: WPD 41%, U.S. 46%
Williams also lauded the department’s gun crimes unit, which he pushed for four years ago to focus on violent crime offenders.
“Prior to 2021, if there was a murder or a victim that was shot that was willing to cooperate, those were prosecuted, but a lot of the other ones were just falling through the cracks,” Williams said Tuesday.
He added the unit has been “instrumental” in bringing forward several prosecutions and cases he felt would have fallen through the cracks before 2021. From 2019 to 2024, Wilmington’s gun crimes decreased by 37%, he said; last year brought the biggest drop of 45%.
Still, the WPD continues to be challenged by the increasing number of guns it’s pulling from the streets, especially from adolescents. Guns recovered in 2019 numbered 293 and every year that number has increased by the dozens to get to 567 this year.
Mayor Pro Tem Clifford Barnett asked if there were any major trends regarding gun crime that keep the chief up at night. Williams responded it has consistently been juvenile gun possession.
“In some cases we are arresting them with these guns, we’re basically giving them right back to the parent or whoever is responsible for them, and they’re turning around doing the same thing again,” Williams said.
He shared the department is arresting kids spanning the ages of 12 to 17 with guns, which also brought up concerns regarding the Raise the Age law. It went into effect in 2019 and states 16 and 17 year olds should be tried as juveniles for most charges.
“To me, [the law] made it more complicated, because a 16- or 17-year-old can be considered an adult for a traffic offense, but it has to be a Class A through E felony for them to be considered an adult,” Williams said.
Council member Charlie Rivenbark brought the idea of drug-free zones for guns, essentially making illegal gun possession near schools or parks incur a higher penalty. Williams said the issue would need to be taken up with the North Carolina General Assembly, as they have the authority to do that.
Council member Kevin Spears questioned where all the guns were coming from, noting he urged former District Attorney Ben David to look into the issue more.
“There has to be an effort that’s greater than just juveniles with guns,” Spears said.
David left the lead prosecutor role for the city’s new Community Justice Center, which David created to curb youth violence and connect victims of domestic violence with law enforcement and resources.
The second part of the chief’s presentation to council focused on property crime — burglary (entering a building to commit a crime), larceny (stealing someone’s property), motor vehicle theft and arson.
Only burglary and arson decreased, according to the statistics:
- Burglary down 22% from 527 to 409
- Larceny up 5% from 3,376 to 3,534
- Motor vehicle theft up 15% from 343 to 393
- Arson down 20% from 10 to 8
This makes the property crime rate increase 2% as well. Council member Luke Waddell said he liked seeing only a 2% increase in the overall rate after last year, when Wilmington had the highest percentage increase (21%) mostly due to property crime.
2024 had the fewest number of break-ins and burglary incidents since 2019, Williams reported. Additionally, the WPD is above the clearance rate for all property crimes aside from larceny, where it follows the 2023 national average by only 1 percentage point.
Williams said the larceny increase can largely be attributed to people leaving their vehicles unlocked, reported in 90% of the cases. However, the city’s senior data analyst Barry Coburn said this was a decrease from last year’s rate of 96%, demonstrating the department’s public service announcements could be helping slightly.
Another component of the large larceny total — arrests have doubled since 2022 and citations have risen 61% — has to do with retail theft made easier through self-checkout.
“We were able to talk with [some local stores], and they’ve made some major changes,” Coburn said. “I don’t know if you’ve been to Costco recently, they’ve really stepped up. Target has stepped up with an investment in cameras and how that process is organized.”
Coburn noted the hardest sell to improve the process would be to traditional grocery stores who have smaller profit margins and therefore less to spend on technology upgrades.
The crime statistics will be sent to the state for approval, which is when they will be considered official; Williams said they are subject to change slightly.
Reach journalist Brenna Flanagan at brenna@localdailymedia.com.
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