Crime in Henrico declines in first half of 2024

The number of all serious crimes decreased. Fewer people stole cars and the items inside them. There was one less murder and the number of serious assaults also decreased.

People called 911 less often, but police still made more arrests than the year before.

Violent crimes include murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. The entire category saw an 18% decline. Individual crimes also decreased.

Through June of this year, there were 12 homicides, compared to 13 in the first half of 2023. There were 111 serious assaults (compared to 128) and 37 robberies (compared to 55).

Property crimes included burglary, theft and auto thefts. The entire category decreased by 10%, with each crime also decreasing compared to 2023. This year, there were 145 burglaries (compared to 185), 260 auto thefts (compared to 316) and 3,048 thefts (compared to 3,329).

Taken together, these figures show a 10% decrease in all crimes.

Tyrone Nelson, Henrico's board chairman, said police are working in areas that have been problematic in the past and he hopes the crime decline will continue in the second half of the year.

“By and large, everything was down, but you just hold your breath and hope for the best,” Nelson said. “The police can do what they do, but citizens have to hold up their end of the bargain, too.”

Catalytic converter thefts have decreased significantly compared to the first six months of 2023. By the end of June 2023, there were a total of 165 thefts, compared to just 33 this year.

The number of stolen catalytic converters peaked in 2022, when the price of precious metals sent them soaring. In Henrico, 683 such thefts were recorded in the first nine months of 2022.

A district spokesman said there were several factors for the significant decline.

The trade-in value of the metals in these converters has dropped. Additionally, anyone caught stealing a converter will now be prosecuted as a Class 6 felony rather than a misdemeanor. Class 6 felonies are punishable by one to five years in prison.

Henrico Police also conducted awareness campaigns and visited recycling centers to educate visitors on how to recognize catalytic converter theft.

In Henrico, car thefts decreased during the first six months of 2024, while both Chesterfield County and Richmond saw increases.

Vice President Christopher Eley told the Richmond Times-Dispatch in July that heavily targeted automakers — Hyundai and Kia — had made safety updates to their vehicles.

A new law also allowed police to arrest juveniles caught stealing cars. Eley said juveniles are primarily responsible for the increase in car thefts throughout the region.

In the first half of this year, there was one more weapons crime than in the previous year, bringing the number to 152. “Weapon crimes” include situations in which firearms are used to cause bodily harm, vandalism, and incidents in which a firearm is fired without permission and shot at an occupied vehicle or dwelling.

The total number of firearms crimes was still lower than in the same periods in 2022, 2021 and 2020.

A heat map identified two hotspots for firearm crimes in Henrico.

A hotspot on Laburnum Avenue had the highest number of firearms crimes in apartment complexes around the intersection of Winston and Delmont Streets. The other, smaller hotspot was centered on the Summerdale Apartments on Newbridge Road.

Henrico police also collected data from Flock automatic license plate recognition cameras, which are similar to the mobile license plate readers used in police vehicles but are fixed in one location. The cameras operate based on “hotlists” and track information such as protection orders, vehicles involved in crimes and missing people.

“The Flock ALPR is motion activated and takes a picture of the rear of the vehicle and license plate,” a county spokesperson said. “When a license plate or vehicle entered into the system passes a location, an alarm is triggered and officers will move to the area and attempt to locate the vehicle.”

Henrico purchased 50 of these automatic license plate readers in 2022 with the option to extend and purchase more cameras. According to a map showing the locations, there are now a total of about 67 flock cameras throughout the county.

These cameras transmitted nearly 35,000 reports to authorities between January and June 2024. These included 2,546 reports of stolen license plates, 637 of stolen vehicles, 426 of gang members or suspected terrorists, and 80 of missing persons.

The county's guidelines for automatic license plate readers state that a “hit” alone is not enough to confirm that a specific license plate is being sought. Every hit must be confirmed by police.

The overall report also showed a dramatic drop in drug overdoses. All drug overdoses dropped by 46%. Heroin and opioid overdoses dropped by 45%, with a total of 243 overdoses. In the first six months of this year, there were 133 fatal heroin and opioid overdoses.