ROANOKE, Va. – Roanoke City Police Chief Scott Booth was hired nearly a year ago to help with an increase in violent crime over time and he’s already beginning to see improvements.
Since Booth took office nearly a year ago, the city has seen a sharp decline in violent gun-related crime. Booth reports a 65% decrease in gun-related homicides and a 53.8% drop in non-fatal shootings, crediting these changes to community-focused and data-driven policing initiatives.
“Make no mistake; we‘re making real police work in conjunction with community engagement,” he added. “Real police work does entail locking up violent offenders. We want to make sure that we’re focussed on violent offenders, those who would do harm in our community and those places that generate an inordinate number of incidents. Where is crime happening in our community? The nature of crime is usually not random in a community.”
Despite the positive trend in gun-related crime, Booth acknowledged other challenges. Domestic aggravated assaults have risen by 47%, and Booth plans to implement more robust de-escalation techniques for officers.
“I think sometimes we need to make sure we give officers some other tools. That’s why I talk about de-escalation right. Just because I can do it, doesn’t mean we don’t have to have some other tools out there. Better tasers, more enhanced ways of taking suspects down without shooting them and that de-escalation model,” he said.
Reflecting on his first year, Booth expressed optimism for the future.
“Our 2024 has been really solid, really strong. I think our 2025 is going to be even better,' he said.