Wake Co. DA launches new unit as Raleigh assaults hit five-year high

The number of assaults in the city of Raleigh is at a five-year high.

Raleigh Police Department data shows that four out of every 25 calls to police in the Southeast District so far this year have been for assaults.

The crime is so prevalent, the Wake County District Attorney has created a special unit to deal with assaults.

While more incidents have been reported in southeast Raleigh than any other part of the city, the trend here is one happening nationwide, as cities all over are facing an increase in reported violent crimes.

Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman points to the pandemic and its effect on social services like mental health care or substance abuse programming.

"A lot of those services that are provided for prevention shut down or attention was diverted in other directions," said Freeman. "We need to get those things ramped back up, you know, get back to that kind of programming, those kind of support services to prevent some of this crime that we're seeing."

Through the WRAL partnership with Facebook, using a platform referred to as Crosstown, the WRAL Data Trackers compiled and analyzed Raleigh police incidents dating back to 2014. It shows the most reported assaults happened in June and May of 2021 with 626 and 617, respectively. Only one other time in the seven years of data did the number of reported incidents go over 600 – back in September 2018.

"Is it concerning? Absolutely."

To address those rising numbers, Freeman has created a new unit focused specifically on assaults. It’s made up of four prosecutors who have experience with trying felonies, but now their efforts are on reducing the number of assaults happening in the city.

Those range from assaults with weapons, like drive-by shootings, to physical altercations.

The most recent violent crime data shows Wake County's rate is 250 incidents per 100,000 residents. It's below the national average of 366.7. Still, Freeman says she is putting these provisions in place to ensure it stays that way as the region changes.

"I always go back to remembering that we are a growing community. And as we grow, part of growing into a more urban area, we're going to see some of this activity that maybe historically we've not seen."