While crime is up overall, some Raleigh neighborhoods seeing decreases

Leaders are hoping to curb it now so this year’s reports don’t eclipse last, which recorded the most criminal reports received since 2015, when this information was first available.

Some neighborhoods are seeing steeper increases than others. In north Raleigh, police took almost 900 more reports there in 2023 than 2022. This week, Raleigh Police Chief Estella Patterson and Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin said they plan to bolster resources downtown to combat rising crime there. At the same time, they'll let police in other districts to focus on their parts of the city.

"They have to look at the sustainability of this," Baldwin said. "It’s not moving people to one part of the city to downtown. It’s hiring extra resources and offering overtime to officers."

Downtown Raleigh sees increase in reported crimes, but police say it's because of increased enforcement

Three neighborhoods – Southwest, Southeast, and Northeast – had fewer reports last year than the year before.

While crime is up as a whole, the data shows non-violent incidents like simple assault, larceny from a motor vehicle and minor damage to property were the top calls they received.

Police also took thousands of reports for what they consider miscellaneous incident like overdoses and missing people. Non-criminal offenses actually made up the largest share of reports in 2023.