PHOENIX — Violent crime is up in the City of Phoenix, according to the police department.
Gun crimes are also up. Police said 80% of the homicides in Phoenix in 2021 involved a firearm.
However, the department is working to arrest more preparators too.
Violent crimes up
Police say violent crimes are continuing to go up in the City of Phoenix.
“We have seen an uptick in gun crimes,” Commander Warren Brewer of Phoenix police’s Violent Crimes Bureau said.
It’s those crimes that Brewer and his investigators are trying to address.
“We want the City of Phoenix to be a safe place for people."
Brewer said more firearms were used in homicides in 2021 than in previous years.
However, while the Violent Crimes Bureau is working with a smaller staff, more homicide cases were solved in 2021 than before.
Brewer said the department has a 73% clearance rate on homicides. For some context, nationally in 2019, 61.4 % of murder offenses were cleared, according to the FBI.
Brewer credits the investigators and their gun crime intelligence work.
“We want to collect every bit of evidence that we can to help us to understand the violent crimes and specific gun crimes,” Brewer said.
Evidence increasing clearance rate
In a partnership with Arizona State University, researchers found how Phoenix police are collecting and tracking evidence in gun crimes is helping develop seemingly more helpful leads and helping police solve more cases.
Brewer said, patrol officers have been trained to collect, photograph and document details of gun crimes to help maximize the manpower the department has.
“We utilize it to hunt down the person that’s responsible for the shooting,” Brewer said. “We would love to get those trigger pullers before they start shooting people.”
Brewer said the department is continuing to work with ASU to identify other evidence-based best practices to combat violent crime.
Collaboration with the community
Brewer said it’s the community’s help in solving crimes that make a difference in the work they do.
“When a community member steps forward, it gives that piece of evidence that we need to be able to put that bad person in jail and help bring some type of resolution to the victims and the families that are suffering from these types of tragedies,” Brewer said.
To prevent someone from pulling the trigger, Ernesto Lopez, a research specialist with the Council on Criminal Justice said it takes collaboration.
“The research suggests that it can’t be all policing,” Lopez said. “And it can’t be no policing, right? It has to be a community effort.”
Lopez adds trust is also important between the community and police.
“It’s extremely important, because that’s how police solve crimes, or they apprehend people in the communities doing harm,” Lopez said.
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