2008 homicides drop 25 percent in Hampton Roads

NORFOLK

Homicides throughout Hampton Roads appear to have declined in 2008, with some cities reporting fewer slayings and others seeing about the same number.

Overall, at least 98 homicides occurred in the region's seven largest cities. That was 25 percent less than the 131 reported in 2007.

Norfolk, Portsmouth and Newport News saw fewer homicides in 2008 than in 2007, according to statistics from the police departments.

The number of homicides was flat in Virginia Beach and Chesapeake. The number increased in Hampton. Suffolk did not provide statistics.

In Norfolk, the number of homicides dropped by more than 40 percent from 2007.

"We're working as hard in the 61-homicide year as we do in the 28-homicide year in terms of going after criminals and trying to get illegal guns off the street," said Officer Chris Amos, a spokesman for Norfolk police.

Here are the numbers:

• There were 28 homicides in Norfolk in 2008, down from 49 in 2007, Amos said.
• There were 28 in 2006 and 61 in 2005. Police could not say how many of the 2008 slayings have been cleared.
• Portsmouth recorded 16 homicides in 2008, down one from the year before, said Detective Jan Westerbeck, a police spokeswoman. There were 18 homicides in 2006.
• Twelve of the 16 from 2008 have been solved by arrest.
• In Chesapeake, the numbers stayed the same, with 14 recorded homicides in 2007 and 2008, said Officer Dorienne Boykin, a police spokeswoman. Six of the 14 homicides from 2008 have been solved by arrest, she said.
• Virginia Beach also recorded the same number of homicides, with 16 each year. Eleven of last year's cases have been cleared by arrest, police said.
• Hampton police had eight homicides in 2008, plus one that was ruled justifiable, said Cpl. Paula Ensley, a police spokeswoman. All but one have been cleared by arrest, she said. The number was up from 2007, when police recorded seven homicides.There were 12 homicides in Hampton in 2006, plus three that were ruled justifiable.
• There were 16 homicides last year in Newport News, down from 28 in 2007. The 16 include a double homicide of two teens at 35th Street and Orcutt Avenue on Tuesday night. Additionally, there were two homicides that were ruled justifiable. Six of the 16 homicides in 2008 have been cleared by arrest.

"I don't think there's any science to it," Officer Lou Thurston, a Newport News police spokesman, said of the decline in homicides last year. "I think over the year we have successfully removed some of the right people from the community, and I think that has probably helped in lowering the numbers."

Debbie George, a spokeswoman for the city of Suffolk, said she was unable to get homicide statistics from the Police Department this week.

Editor's Note: On Jan. 7, 2009, Suffolk officials provided homicide statistics for the city.  Two homicides occurred in 2007; four in 2008, according to spokeswoman Debbie George.

Patrick Wilson, (757) 446-2957, patrick.wilson@pilotonline.com

Jim Washington, (757) 446-2536, jim.washington@pilotonline.com