An 18.23 percent spike in violent crime for the first 10 months of 2014 can be partially attributed to a cycle of gang violence, according to a report by the Durham Police Deparment.
Durham saw a 30 percent increase in violent crime in the first half of 2014 compared to the same period in 2013. As of Oct. 11, the cumulative increase hit 18.23 percent.
The Durham Police Department attributes the increase to several factors, including a spike in crimes that involve multiple victims and the cyclical nature of gang violence, said Larry Smith, deputy chief of operations for DPD. Police and community organizations are working to address the increase, but some Durham officials note concern about the impact that the increase could have on travel and business in the area.
“These disputes most often involve money, especially in drug transactions, as well as relationships with females and perceived disrespect,” Smith said.
The police department differentiates between member-based crime and motive-based crime when recording gang activity, Smith said. Member-based crime occurs when the perpetrator or victim of a crime is a gang member, even if the crime is not gang related. Less common is motive-based crime, in which a gang member commits a crime to advance the interests of the gang and then admits this motive to the police. Smith said that gang members often deny that they are part of a gang if they are picked up for a crime.
Smith said that gang activity itself has not increased drastically.
“What have truly increased are the number of high victim crimes, for instance when a gang member shoots up a house instead of shooting someone personally," Smith said. "If there are five people in the house, this is recorded as five cases of aggravated assault, even if not everyone is hurt."
Smith said that the number of actual incidents of violent crime, as supposed to the number of charges filed, is decreasing rapidly.
Gang activity tends to occur in cycles, said Jim Stuit, gang reduction strategy manager for the Criminal Justice Resource Center.
“We see periods with quite a bit of gang activity especially if gangs are feuding, and then more quiet periods," Stuit said. "The most happens during the summer when the days are longer and kids are out of school."
The Durham Police Department is actively working to reduce this gang activity, Smith said. DPD researches the locations of each gang crime as well as the victims and suspects involved in each crime to gain information, especially if retaliatory violence is expected. Smith said that arrests have been made in response to incidents of violence.
Stuit, who coordinates the overall community efforts to reduce gang activity, said that the best strategy is the early intervention program, which teaches kids better ways to respond to conflicts and informs them of activities to get involved in outside of school.
“If we find a youngster in a gang, we try to get them on a different trajectory and work with mentors to provide them with alternatives,” Stuit said.
Durham officials have been concerned with how these reports of violent crimes have impacted residents and visitors in Durham.
Shelly Green, president of the Durham Convention and Visitors Bureau, said that the perceptions of crime have affected visitors much more than actual crime.
“In some cases, a place’s reputation of high crime rates is deceiving. You have to understand what the crime rate is and put it in context,” Green said.
Stuit said that what citizens hear about crime may not always be reality.
“It’s a safe community for the most part, but you still have to take precautions at night just like anywhere else,” Stuit said.
Smith said that the crime mostly occurs in centralized areas and that he has not seen it spreading to the Duke campus.
“There has been no violence related to Duke or Duke students,” he said.
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