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Durham — Seven people have been shot in the last seven days
in Durham.
Three of those seven were younger than the age of 18. In total, 22 people have been shot in Durham this
year.
While the 2025 crime report, set to be presented
to the Durham City Council at Thursday’s work session, shows overall crime is down in 2025 compared to 2024, it has
been a violent week.
Durham Mayor Leonardo Williams told WRAL News he is
putting plans in action this week to address the issue.
“I am working on pulling together an emergency
task force that can help mitigate the engagement of non-profits in our
community,” Williams said. “Crime is overall going down, I want to highlight
that, but our youth violence is out of control.”
One-on-one interview: Durham Mayor Leonardo Williams: Crime is decreasing, but city’s youth violence is ‘out of control’
Williams argued the priority for everyone,
including elected officials and community members, should be the issue of
crime.
“We have fare free busing. We have HEART. We have
our CIP. we have Vision Zero for transit; why can’t we have a Vision Zero for
our youth from killing each other? Why can’t we have more youth centers
downtown?” Williams said. “If we’re going to shoot down anything that
involves the police, we’re not going to keep people safe.”
Williams said community members who want to be involved
to attend community sessions for the joint City County Comprehensive Violence
Reduction Plan. He also encouraged people already working with youth to keep up
their endeavors.
“If you have an idea, go do it. Don’t come to the
city for funding yet, because we operate on a fiscal year. I say to our
corporate community, find a non-profit and invest in them,” Williams said.
Williams pointed to the Bull City Future Fund as another way to get involved.
Durham has employed various crime reduction
technologies and initiatives in recent years. However, many have been removed.
WRAL News asked Williams if he believed programs like the gunfire detection system ShotSpotter, or the discontinued anti-violence program Bull City United should return as possible solutions outlined in the recent City-County Plan. In February, the city council also opted not to move forward with the proposed Real Time Crime Center.
“I do think they [the programs] should come back, but we’re going
to have to let the data tell us that,” Williams said. “What resources we
have are going to be data led.”
When it comes
to that long-term plan, the next community session you can participate in is
virtual, on Feb. 24. There are two more in-person meetings
scheduled for March 13 and March 20.
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