Council, police chief discuss crime, perceptions

Rocky Mount’s top law enforcement officer made clear to the City Council that he considers himself to be safe as a resident of the city.

“I feel comfortable going anywhere that I need to go in Rocky Mount,” police Chief Robert Hassell said at a council work session on April 8. “I’ve always said that — and I will hope everyone feels that same way.”

Hassell added, “We have never tolerated any form of violent crime or any crime — period — in our city. When we see crime, we will do our best to investigate and charge any and everyone, no matter who you are, with the appropriate crime, whether it’s violent or property (crime).”

Hassell presented the police department’s first quarter report for this year about crime data and fielded questions from the council. The report showed a 1 percent increase in overall crime, a 25 percent decrease in violent crime and a 9 percent increase in property crime compared to the fourth quarter of 2023.

During the question-and-answer portion, which lasted roughly half an hour, Councilman Andre Knight cited what he said was an article online saying that Rocky Mount is one of the most dangerous cities in the state and spoke about other articles coming via cell phone apps about crime in the city.

Knight made clear he would like to hear a message from City Hall more along the lines that Rocky Mount is not going to put up with crime and that Rocky Mount is a safe place.

“It’s a great place to be,” Knight said. “It’s a great place to locate. Nobody is talking about that.”

Specifically, Knight told Hassell, “If these articles are not correct, then we need to say that in the public square, in these presentations, because we’re all reading them — and they’re all posted on Facebook.”

Hassell made clear that he believes that the police department does an excellent job in investigating and bringing accused criminals to justice.

Hassell also made clear that he believes the department’s violent crime, gang and arrest team have done tremendous work along with the department’s patrol division and the department’s investigators.

Hassell also said, “If you look over the last several years in our city, our violent crime numbers have dropped some each and every year.”

And he made clear that the police department does everything possible with any local, state or federal partners to prevent violent crimes from occurring.

Hassell said that while he cannot speak about the article Knight cited, the State Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Bureau of investigation typically do not compare one city to another.

He said that this does not stop anyone from going on the SBI’s and the FBI’s websites to look at data and start trying to pull numbers the way they see fit and compare one city to another.

Councilman Reuben Blackwell asked City Manager Keith Rogers Jr. to come back with a comprehensive communication strategy that tries to tell a story of what Rocky Mount is.

“I’ve seen some cities have contracted with folks and they write strategic articles around quality of life in their city,” Blackwell said. “And they’re placing these articles in magazines of influence, not just in their location, but around the state and in statewide magazines and national magazines.”

Blackwell also noted that there are crimes being committed in the Research Triangle region, which is one of the faster growing regions in the nation.

“But people don’t brand Raleigh as an unsafe city,” he said. “They brand Raleigh as a hotbed of entrepreneurism, as a city of government influence and as a city of great opportunity.

“And people aren’t worried about where they live,” he said. “That brand hasn’t yet settled on Rocky Mount.”

Rogers told Blackwell that his points are very well taken. Rogers added that one of the things he and his team are working toward is to be able to put data across departments on a website more easily obtainable for area residents.

Earlier in the council’s question-and-answer portion, Councilman Richard Joyner said that there are still unsafe streets in his community and that there are stores in his community that, historically, have contributed to negative behavior.

Joyner suggested putting the word out that contributing to such behavior is unacceptable.

Joyner also said that, heading into the summer, there are going to be numerous phone calls from residents unable to sleep at night because of noise ordinance violations.

“And I’m hoping that we can get ahead of that — and shut that down before it begins,” Joyner said.

Rogers made clear that he and Hassell were in attendance at one of the Ward 3 community meetings and heard the concerns.

“And we’re coming up with a plan so that we can make sure that we get ahead of it,” Rogers said.

Councilman Tom Harris expressed appreciation to Hassell for the crime report containing more information than in the past, including data about illegal-drug-related arrests and about gangs.

Councilman T.J. Walker cited part of the report that of 1,340 incidents in the first quarter of this year, 18, or one percent, had a validated gang member or suspect.

Walker said that he believes partly in telling Rocky Mount’s story, “We don’t have a gang issue. That’s what this reads.”

According to the crime report shared by Hassell, there are 195 validated gang members in the city this year compared to 192 in 2023, 213 in 2022 and 193 in 2021.

The crime report to the council also noted that there are 11 gangs in the city.

U.S. Census estimates for 2022 put Rocky Mount’s population at 54,013.