Durham police report shows mixed trends; council seeks more data on youth shootings and response times

Durham Police presented its fourth-quarter 2024 crime report to the Durham City Council on Feb. 17, reporting declines in some categories of violent crime and property crime even as the city recorded 39 homicides last year and an increase in gun-injury incidents.

The police presentation, led by the city’s chief of police (name not specified in the meeting record), said 34 of last year’s 39 homicides involved firearms. The chief also said the city saw an increase in shooting incidents that produced multiple victims, and that about 63% of aggravated assaults with firearms involved a firearm. The department reported removing 981 firearms tied to incidents and that 685 of those removals were linked to specific shooting events presented as evidence to investigators.

The council heard that identified shooting victims were predominantly Black (about 82%), mostly male (about 86%) and that…