WHITEPAPER REPORT

Fighting Crime In The Capital City

Let’s Work Together To Make Raleigh A Safer City

 

Monday, April 20, 2026

 

 

Watching Raleigh Police Chief Rico Boyce’s news conference following a shootout in the Food Lion parking lot just off Creedmoor Road last Tuesday, April 14th , you could see the frustration and exasperation on his face. “This type of gun violence is not going to be tolerated,” Chief Boyce stated. The Chief then explained that he will be putting together a plan to tackle violent crime in our city.

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So, as we wait for Chief Boyce’s detailed plan – here are some realities we need to face. There are fewer police officers on patrol today than when the police chief joined Raleigh PD in 2000. Yet, our city has seen significant growth over the past 25 years. There has not been a City Council focused on public safety since the mid-1990s.

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In 2000, the US Census bureau reported our city’s population to be 290,079. In 2023, our population was recorded at 482,295 – that’s a 60% increase in population, yet we have fewer officers on the force today than we did in 2000. It’s time for our City Council to focus on fighting crime and public safety.

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Over the last week, we have seen an uptick in violent crime.

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• A shootout in the Food Lion parking lot off Creedmoor Road

• A shootout on Glenwood South

• A murder on Thelma Street

• A stabbing on Fayetteville Street leaving four people injured

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Here’s what I know.

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With fewer officers on patrol, there aren’t enough sworn officers to lead enforcement efforts on important efforts such as drug interdiction and youth gang violence. Our police officers are working overtime just to keep pace with the shift-to-shift call volume. The police department needs critical resources for additional patrol positions, investigators and civilian staff. If you want a safer city, then the City Council must support Police Chief Rico Boyce and his department.

 

Here are the policies that I will advance if I am elected to the Raleigh City Council District E.

• I will support Chief Boyce’s plan to add 300 new police officers in the next four years. These officers will improve response times and provide more law enforcement in high crime areas. The additional staff will allow the police department to work on serious public safety issues like gun violence, youth gangs and fentanyl and opioid abuse.

 

•  I will support adding funds to the police department’s innovation and technology programs such as license plate readers and more incident cameras to help the police department to track crime and catch criminals in real time. Let’s provide the funding for the chief to build out a “real time crime center” staffed with sworn officers and civilians so that patrol officers can have the most relative information when they are responding to a violent crime scene.

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• I will support expanding the Gang Intelligence Task Force, adding sworn officers and civilians to this specialized unit. Let’s use technology tools to identify gang members and go after them if they are using social media to show off illegal weapons and promote their activities. Let’s provide the police chief with the resources he needs to get these violent gang members off the street and in the Wake County Detention Center.

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• I will support a competitive salary schedule for our police officers and first responders so we can retain and recruit the best talent. We need to make sure Raleigh isn’t a training ground for other agencies to cherry-pick our best officers because our salary schedule isn’t competitive with nearby cities.

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• I will support expanding efforts to offer diversionary programs to help prevent kids from getting into gangs and getting into trouble. Let’s work together to make Raleigh a safer city. We need more than just enforcement efforts to fight crime in our city.

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I believe we need a two-channel approach to fighting crime and making our city safer.

1. We have aggressive enforcement efforts to get the criminals off the street and in jail.

2. We also need to work to prevent these young people from getting off-track and into

criminal activities.

 

I will propose a Public Safety Task Force, bringing together the stakeholders and working on a plan that is realistic and can be implemented. We need the Sheriff, the District Attorney, the school system and our parks department engaged. We need community leaders, civic organizations and religious leadership at the table.

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We have multiple silos of data and information on this trend of violent crime and youth gang activities. Let’s utilize our school resource officers and school officials to identify at risk children as early as 11 and 12 years of age.

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Let’s look at a pilot program in a high crime incident area and see if we can move the needle with after school programs that provide a safe haven for our young people. We can partner with our schools, the YMCAs and our parks department to set up camps so these at-risk youth have somewhere to go other than turning to gangs and the streets.

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Here’s what I envision. We hire teachers and others in the community, for after-school camps Mon-Thursday. These camps will provide many opportunities for these young people. We will have activities from athletics to music to dance to computer programs.The point is to identify children who need an alternative outlet and help provide a direction that will enrich their education and community involvement. We need to get these young people on a different path and hopefully keep them out of trouble and out of jail.

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We need more leadership on public safety from our Mayor and City Council.

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I believe we need more officers on the street fighting crime. I also believe we need community programs that will help keep our young people off the streets and out of trouble.

 

For me, I am willing to invest in our children and in our police department.

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