Richmond police report drop in violent crime, outline enforcement steps including expanded speed cameras

Richmond Police Chief Rick Edwards told the Public Safety Standing Committee on the afternoon of the committee meeting that the city’s overall violent crime fell to 967 incidents for the year, below the department’s 10‑year average of 1,150.

Edwards said homicide fell 18%, robberies of commercial businesses fell 20% and individual robberies were down 59% compared with 2014 figures; aggravated assaults were down 2%, producing a 5% reduction overall in violent crime. “This is the first time that we could find in our in over 20 years where Richmond…had under 1,000 violent crimes for the year,” Edwards said.

The chief also reported that the department’s International (IBR) clearance rate for homicides is 88.7% and its year‑to‑date clearance rate is 56.6%, noting the difference reflects cases cleared from prior years. He cautioned nonfatal shootings rose about 5% from last year (200 incidents in the most recent year versus 190 the prior year) while traffic fatalities fell to 17, a 32% reduction from the high of 28 in 2022.

To address vehicle‑related crime and traffic…