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The city’s crime rate is down 16% compared to this time last year, said Police Chief Danny Buie. This is already an improvement from the 11% decrease Mayor Michael Duman cited during his State of the City address on May 13. If this downward trend continues, Buie expects the crime rate to be down 13% by the end of the year.

“Suffolk is the fastest growing city in Virginia,” he said. “And for our population to be increasing … and our crime rate going the opposite direction, it’s fantastic.”

Buie credits this decrease to more officers patrolling the streets and the use of new technology in the department. 

He said the department had 40 vacancies a couple of years ago, and now there are around 20. This allows him to put more officers on the streets and move people to specialty units such as the neighborhood enforcement team, special investigations unit, and warrants bureau. 

“When we’re able to fill those spots, then we’re able to backfill our detective bureau, our [special investigations unit], our neighborhood enforcement team, our fugitive units, and it puts more people in those units, then they can be more crime focused,” Buie said.

While he believes nothing can replace “boots on the ground,” Buie said the use of new technology has been “priceless” in terms of SPD’s ability to respond to and deter crime.

He specifically mentioned the Flock Safety Raven audio gunshot detection devices the department put up around the city in 2022.

“If you’re a criminal, now is not the time,” Buie said. “With these officers out here working, with all the technology that’s out there, you’re going to get caught. You’re going to get caught, and you’re going to get arrested, and you’re going to get prosecuted.”

Buie also credits the decrease to the hard work of everyone working at the police department.

“Our job is to keep the people safe and to make Suffolk a safer place to be, and that’s what they work towards every day,” he said.

The “constant communication” between departments allows for information to be quickly shared so that the right departments can get involved.

Buie said SPD “works so well with every player,” including outside law enforcement agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Suffolk community.

Actionable intelligence is another strategy SPD uses to proactively prevent crime. Rather than having patrolling officers wait for crime to happen, they identify issues in the city and direct more resources to them.

Most crimes can be connected, Buie said, and oftentimes, violent crimes follow shortly after nonviolent crimes such as larceny and vehicle theft. Therefore, SPD tends to focus on identifying violent offenders and getting weapons off the streets.

Most calls for service come from the city’s downtown area, Buie said, which is geographically identified as south of Route 58. This is most likely because it’s a densely populated area, but “no place in the city is immune,” he said.

“We work just as hard in Harbour View as we do downtown to try to prevent and deter crime,” he said. “But we will, like any other agency, will focus our resources to where they can do us the most good.”

Buie added that crime rates typically go up during the summer because the weather is hotter and people are out of school, and no age range seems to commit more crimes.

SPD also recently relaunched a citizen feedback survey, in which people can leave comments about crime in the city and answer questions about how safe they feel. 

“The only good number when you talk about crime rate is zero,” he said. “So, until we get to zero, our work, has to continue. And we’re going to work hard to get there … But if you’re not looking for that, then I shouldn’t be doing this job. That’s the number that I got to look at. Lose zero police officers in the line of duty, and we get our crime rate down to zero.”