Wilmington Police Department’s 2024 year-end crime report shows while overall shootings were down, murders were up.
The report shows a 21% reduction from 2023 in more serious Part 1 crimes like murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, motor vehicle theft, and arson.
There were 81 shootings last year compared to 91 the year before - the third lowest in 20 years with only 2018 and 2005 lower at 72 and 76 respectively.
The numbers aren’t all positive, as murders increased in Wilmington last year.
"We've made some significant progress, but obviously for itself, shows you that we still have a lot of work to do, right? We had 24 homicides, which is too many. And those are things that we can improve on, and those are things that we have our strategies in place to continue to build upon to get those numbers down to zero or as low as we can. Because again one is too many," said Wilmington Chief of Police Wilfredo Campos.
He notes of the 24 murders 17 were by gunfire, two by stabbing, and five by assault or strangulation.
There were 14 total murders in 2023 - and not only did that total increase last year the number of non-shooting related murders also increased.
There were 35 murders in 2017 – the first year of former Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki’s administration. Last year’s number is a 31% decrease from that total. Campos will stay on as Chief in Mayor John Carney’s administration.
Wilmington Chief of Police Wilfredo Campos says he believes improved community relations and other initiatives are helping.
"We've come a long way from where we were 8, 9 years ago to where we're at now, and not just speaking on statistics and numbers, but also in our community relations, right? That's important as well, making sure that our residents are able to approach our officers, have conversations with our officers and have that relationship as well," said Campos.
Campos points to the Community Engagement Unit having officers meet with residents and be approachable.
The Wilmington Police Department also launched the Partners in Care Program which pairs trained mental health clinicians with officers and Wellness Program last year.
