The City of Danville continues to experience a decrease in crime thanks to focused deterrence efforts and community partnerships.
Chief Scott Booth came to Danville in 2018 with the mission to reduce crime, particularly violent crime, and build community trust through positive engagement activities.
“While 2020 has been a year full of challenges, we are excited to share with our community the results of the incredible work of the women and men of the Danville Police Department,” said Operations Major Chris Wiles. “We also recognize that for us to remain effective, our community partnerships are crucial to sustained crime reduction.”
As part of our commitment to transparency, the Danville Police Department presents to the community a preliminary look at the 2020 crime numbers. Crime is down in most individual categories, and violent crime in total (homicide, robbery, forcible sex offenses, aggravated assault) reached historic lows. Some property crimes, such as burglary, are experiencing the lowest reported incidents on record.
“Total crime reported through NIBRS in 2019 was the lowest since 1986,” said Captain Steve Richardson, “and 2020 is on pace to be even lower.”
- Burglary – down 41 percent from 186 in 2019 to 109 this year-to-date.
- Aggravated assaults - up 14 percent from 63 in 2019 to 72 this year-to-date.
- Robbery – down 42 percent from 19 to 11.
- Murder - down 38 percent from 8 to 5.
* For an accurate side-by-side comparison, the reported 2019 crime numbers are through December 15, 2019, and the preliminary 2020 crime numbers are current through December 15, 2020.
The Danville Police Department also solved crime at a higher rate than the national average. Police made charges in all five murders committed in 2020 and made charges in three murders from previous years. Danville experienced 24 murders from 2018 until the present, and police cleared 21 of those cases by arrest leaving only three unsolved.
As far as property crime, police cleared 44 percent of burglaries in 2020 compared to the national average clearance rate of 14.1 percent.
We realize there is still work to be done and challenges ahead. The Danville Police Department is building on our current policing model with innovative strategies and new technology so that we may continue to provide quality service to our community.