U.S. Justice Department Releases Recommendations to Reduce Violent Crime in Salisbury

SALISBURY, N.C. – The U.S. Justice Department is recommending changes to help stop violent crime in Salisbury.

Police have struggled to deal with crime in recent years, especially making arrests and closing cases.

These recommendations come 10 months after Salisbury Police first partnered with the DOJ.

“Let’s join together and get Salisbury’s crime in the past,” says Salisbury resident Mae Carrol.

She lives in Salisbury’s West End and is one of about two dozen people who came out to hear the DOJ’s plan Tuesday night.

Members of the DOJ’s diagnostic staff outlined their recommendations.

“Looking at different things, putting it on the chart. I thought that was very good,” Carrol says.

The proposals include:

-Improving data and crime analysis.

-Implementing a place-based policing strategy, which means taking a different approach in neighborhoods vs. the business district.

-Adding more investigators to reduce case load.

-Improving internal and external communications.

The DOJ also mapped hotspots seeing the biggest issues.

Data shows while overall crime is down in Salisbury, the city has one of the highest violent crime rates among similar-sized cities in North Carolina.

“This is a really good direction for us in addressing violent crime in Salisbury,” says Chief Jerry Stokes, with the Salisbury Police Department.

Stokes says this is only the beginning of the partnership and he’s optimistic about the future.

He says a manpower issue is already better.

“We had a significant staffing shortage particularly coming into 2017. But actually we’re fully staffed now,” he says.

CLICK HERE for a link to the full report.