ROANOKE, Va. – Roanoke police say crime is down from last year.
They recently presented numbers to the City Council and shared how they are working with organizations to make sure crime is down all across the city.
Some downtown Roanoke business owners and workers love how safe the area is.
“I like working downtown,” Mary Jo Markham who works downtown said.
Others agree.
“Between the middle of last year or so ‘til the beginning of this year, we have seen it tone down,” Pauline Wood who owns Shades of Color said.
Even after the opening of the ABC store downtown about a year ago, some business owners had concerns about vagrants staying downtown disrupting the area.
Some say now, a year later, that’s not the case.
“it’s just another business — it didn’t bother me, I don’t think anything changed a lot,” Markham said.
More owners agree.
“It’s not as much trouble as we thought it would be, there’s been no major trouble,” Wood said.
Roanoke Police say they do a lot of things to make sure small businesses are safe all across the city.
In a statement to 10 News, police said:
“We meet with the business owners or their representatives so that we can both learn more about each other and how we operate. From our standpoint, we provide information about joining our Trespass Bar program, help them meet the officers and Community Resource Officers who would be working in their neighborhoods, provide education about situational awareness and/or protecting the business, amongst a number of things. The topic of conversation changes depending on the business and its needs.”
Roanoke Police Department
Across the city, crime is down according to police.
They say the numbers for preliminary for 2023, as some investigations haven’t closed but they say burglaries are down about 12 percent.
And motor vehicle thefts are down nearly 30 percent.
Part of the reason is several partnerships like the Bold Blue Line Virginia State Police Partnership.
“They ride with Roanoke City Police and served 89 arrests, 67 warrants served,” Chief of Police Scott Booth said.
Roanoke police are also trying to get the young people involved to prevent them from going into crime.
Some initiatives to help include a Boxing and Brawling fit program which served 318 children and 54 teens and assistance from the young adult and mentoring partnership with the juvenile court.