VIRGINIA BEACH — Police deployed a data-driven “hotspot” strategy last year that helped reduce vehicle theft and items stolen from cars, but officers are still struggling with an increase in violent crime and in the number of shootings, Chief Paul Neudigate told the City Council at a meeting Tuesday. The chief provided a snapshot of crime and traffic data for 2023.

In an effort to deter thefts, officers made themselves highly visible for short periods of time in areas where property crimes were occurring.

“Putting cops on dots is an empirical strategy,” Neudigate said, gesturing to a map of the city where clusters of green circles marked problem areas. “It works.”

Theft from vehicles dropped from 3,260 to 2,101, or 35%, from 2022 to 2023, and motor vehicle theft was down from 962 to 727, or 24%.

But other larcenies increased in Virginia Beach.

Among the top 10 locations reporting stolen property included the ABC store at 5832 North Hampton Blvd., which led with 136 incidences last year. Pembroke and Lynnhaven malls were next in line.

“Some of these establishments are working with us to try to identify problem-solving strategies,” the chief said. “Some, we wish we’d get a little more cooperation.”

Violent crime, which includes homicide, rape, robbery or aggravated assault, increased overall last year with 18 more reported incidents than in 2022. However, at 533 total reports, it was second lowest number of violent crime in the last five years.

Homicides rose from 23 to 24 deaths.

The department’s homicide clearance rate for cases closed by an arrest or other means was 83% last year. The Virginian-Pilot requested clearance rates for other crimes, but the department didn’t provide that information.

All reported rape increased by 24%. The police chief said many of the reported rapes involve the assault of a victim by a family member.

“A large percentage of these are family members, relatives, that are being reported as having illegal sexual contact with other family members,” Neudigate said, adding that he’s not alarmed by the surge. “We want that reporting to come to us so that we can investigate and hold people accountable where need be.”

The number of shooting victims increased from 64 in 2022 to 90 in 2023. Twenty of those were fatal.

“We’re seeing many more victims per incidence unfortunately,” the chief said.

Among the multi-victim shooting incidents, there was a shooting with four victims; two shootings with three victims each; and 11 with two victims each.

Another major concern, Neudigate said, is the amount of automatic gunfire that was identifed by the department’s gunshot detection technology called ShotSpotter.

“This is becoming way too frequent that we are hearing and capturing automatic gunfire in our community,” he said.

Police recovered 1,447 illegally possessed firearms last year including handguns that have been modified into automatic weapons.

Traffic stops were up 20%; speeding citations increased by 30%; and there was a 15% decrease in vehicular crashes.

Following the presentation, Councilwoman Jennifer Rouse suggested the City Council consider investing in proactive measures including workforce development and summer youth programs to help prevent violent crime in the future.

“Something for us to consider as we go into the budget, when you think about strategies, how we can use our budget to make adjustments in these areas that are seeing higher incidents of gun violence,” Rouse said.

Stacy Parker, 757-222-5125, stacy.parker@pilotonline.com