Assaults up 3% in Fayetteville, but domestic violence, property crimes down

Fayetteville Observer - 8/27/2019

Aug. 27--The latest crime statistics for Fayetteville are a mixed bag, with the number of the most serious crimes remaining the same for the first six months of the year and aggravated assaults increasing by 3 percent.

But domestic violence cases were down 11 percent and property crimes were down 8 percent.

Police Chief Gina Hawkins presented the figures to the Fayetteville City Council on Monday night.

The figures were part of the National Incident Based Reporting system that will become a requirement for all law enforcement agencies by 2020.

There were 10 murders in Fayetteville between January and June, the same number as that time frame in 2018. But the clearance rate of the cases, which means the physical arrest of the offender, was much better this year than last year for the first six months of the year.

In 2018, the clearance rate for the entire year of 2018 was 66.7 percent. The rate was 80 percent for the first six months of this year. The national percentage for 2017 was 61.6 percent, according to the latest FBI numbers.

Mayor Mitch Colvin asked if the department was trying to figure out a solution to get the aggravated assault numbers trending in the other direction, as there were 521 offenses for the first six months of this year compared to 507 in 2018.

Hawkins said the department is working on it.

"I think we are doing it to get it trending in the other direction," she said. "We're out there solving the crimes. We're responding quickly. We work as a team."

Hawkins said the city is making progress at handling domestic assault cases.

In 2018, the police investigated 22 murders, of which seven were domestic-related. The Domestic Violence Unit was formed to look further into whether anything could be done to prevent or address the cases better. As of June 2019, there have been no domestic violence related homicides, Hawkins said, pointing out that detectives are taking more time assisting victims.

Hawkins lauded the department's average response time of 5.8 minutes for calls in which a crime is in progress.The national average is six to nine minutes.

Councilman D.J. Haire said one of the biggest concerns he gets from his constituents is about response times. He asked whether she had figures showing response times for non-emergency cases, and Hawkins said she would forward those along to him, as the department has nine different categories of priorities for calls.

Councilman Larry Wright praised the work the police department is doing and asked Hawkins whether these figures include sex trafficking, which he says he has heard is a problem in Cumberland County.

Hawkins said they are not part of the report, but the department takes it seriously as it has two members who are on a human trafficking task force.

Seizure of certain drugs for the first six months of this year in Fayetteville are significantly lower than the same period last year and arrests are up, the latest figures show.

In 2019, the department seized 29.7 pounds of cocaine, compared to 30 pounds during the time frame from January through June.

There was one pound of heroin seized, compared to 2.1 pounds last year, a 50 percent decrease.

There was 179 pounds of marijuana seized in the first six months of this year compared to 732 pounds last year, a 75.5 percent decrease. Drug arrests are up from 35 this year compared to 29 last year.

Staff writer John Henderson can be reached at jhenderson@fayoberver.com or 910-486-3596.

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