Crime Trends

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Crime Trends

• Weed Seed Areas and the Rest of Winston-Salem
• 2003-2004

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Crime Trends Weed Seed Areas and the Rest of
Winston-Salem
Focus Offenses (Homicide, Rape, Robbery,
Aggravated Assault, Burglary-BE, Larceny, Motor
Vehicle Theft, Weapons Violations, Sexual
Offenses, Drugs, Kidnapping, and Arson) Focus
offenses fell in both the Weed Seed
neighborhoods and the rest of the city in 2004,
compared with the previous year, according to
Winston-Salem Police Department data. (See
Figure 1 below.) The number of such offenses in
the Weed Seed areas decreased by 10.6, while
the number fell 10.0 in the rest of the city.
Since 2000, the Weed Seed neighborhoods have
experienced a 29.78 decline in focus offenses,
and the rest of Winston-Salem has seen a drop of
18.75.
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Trends in Focus Offenses Weed Seed vs.
Rest of City
-7
5
-8
-10
-15
-8
0
-11
Focus Offenses Homicide, Rape, Robbery,
Aggravated Assault, Burglary-BE, Larceny, Motor
Vehicle Theft, Arson, Weapons Violations, Sexual
Offenses, Drugs, and Kidnapping
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Crime Trends Focus Offenses
Focus offenses dropped most dramatically (46.8)
in the South Winston One neighborhood, but that
decline is probably attributable largely to a
drastic decrease in the neighborhoods population
during 2004. In that year public housing
residents were temporarily relocated to other
parts of the city as part of HUDs Hope VI
neighborhood revitalization program. However,
South Winston One is the second smallest Weed
Seed neighborhood, so the large decline there in
the number of focus offenses does not explain the
overall Weed Seed area decrease. Three of the
other four neighborhoods also saw a decline in
focus offenses between 2003 and 2004.
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Crime Trends Focus Offenses
Focus offenses dropped 14.6 in North Winston,
8.1 in South Winston 2, and 1.7 in Northeast
Winston. Only the least populous Weed Seed
neighborhood, Southeast Winston, experienced an
increase (12.1) in focus offenses from 2003 to
2004. The actual number of focus offenses in
2004 was largest in the Northeast Winston
neighborhood (911), followed by South Winston Two
(886), and North Winston (788). Much smaller
numbers occurred in Southeast Winston (185) and
South Winston One (159).
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Crime Trends Focus Offenses
Seven of the 12 focus offenses rape, larceny,
burglary, drug offenses, motor vehicle theft,
kidnapping, and weapons violations declined in
both the Weed Seed areas and the rest of
Winston-Salem. Of those offenses, rape, drug
offenses, weapons violations, kidnapping, and
burglary decreased by a larger percentage in the
Weed Seed neighborhoods than in the rest of the
city. The percentage decrease was the same (7)
in both areas for motor vehicle thefts, and
smaller in the Weed Seed neighborhoods for
larceny. Aggravated assaults were down
substantially in the Weed Seed areas but
increased slightly in the rest of the city. The
number of homicides was unchanged in the Weed
Seed neighborhoods, but the number of homicides
that occurred elsewhere was up. Robberies rose
slightly in the Weed Seed neighborhoods and
fell slightly in the rest of the city. Finally,
sexual offenses increased in both areas.
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Percentage Changes 2003-2004 Weed Seed
vs. Rest of City
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Crime Trends Larceny
Larceny, the most common focus offense, fell 6
in the Weed Seed neighborhoods and 15 in the
rest of the city. South Winston One, Northeast
Winston, and North Winston experienced decreases
in larceny in 2004 (from 73 to 46 or -37, from
258 to 206 or -20, and from 209 to 207 or -1,
respectively). Larcenies increased from 54 to 66
(22) in Southeast Winston and from 326 to 343
(5) in South Winston Two.
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Crime Trends Burglary
The second most common focus offense, burglary,
was down by 15 in the Weed Seed areas and by
9 in the rest of Winston-Salem. Among Weed
Seed neighborhoods, only Northeast Winston showed
an increase in the number of burglaries, from 200
to 210, a rise of 5. Burglaries dropped from
251 to 172 (-31) in North Winston, from 48 to 34
(-29) in Southeast Winston, from 58 to 45 (-22)
in South Winston One, and from 198 to 180 (-9)
in South Winston Two.
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Crime Trends Drug offenses
Drug offenses, the third most numerous focus
offense, dropped 19 in the Weed Seed areas in
and 2 in the rest of the city in 2004. South
Winston One and South Winston Two led the decline
in drug offenses, with numbers falling from 73 to
32 (-56) and from 161 to 92 (-43),
respectively. Drug offenses in North Winston
fell from 228 in 2003 to 203 in 2004, a decline
of 11. Northeast Winston saw less than a 1
increase (from 219 to 220) in drug offenses,
while those crimes increased from 15 to 18 (20)
in Southeast Winston.
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Crime Trends Motor vehicle theft
Motor vehicle theft, which ranks fourth among
the most numerous focus offenses, fell by 7 in
both the Weed Seed neighborhoods and the rest
of the city. Thefts were down 63 (from 19 to 7)
in South Winston One, 18 (from 74 to 61) in
South Winston Two, and 18 (from 62 to 51) in
North Winston. Motor vehicle thefts increased
27 (from 60 to 76) in Northeast Winston and 23
(from 13 to 16) in Southeast Winston.
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Percentage Changes 2003-2004Weed Seed vs. Rest
of City
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Crime Trends Weapons violations
Ranking fifth in the total number of offenses,
weapons violations decreased 6 in the Weed
Seed areas and 3 in the rest of Winston-Salem.
Weapons violations dropped from 24 to 7 (-71) in
South Winston One, from 54 to 45 (-17) in the
North Winston neighborhood, and from 83 to 70
(-16) in South Winston Two. Weapons violations
almost doubled, from 16 to 30 (88) in Southeast
Winston, while increasing from 54 to 65 (20) in
Northeast Winston.
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Crime Trends Aggravated assaults
Aggravated assaults declined 17 in the Weed
Seed areas while rising 3 in the rest of the
city between 2003 and 2004. Those offenses
dropped 67 in South Winston One (from 33 to 11),
20 in North Winston (from 56 to 45), and 15 in
Northeast Winston (from 79 to 67). Southeast
Winstons 9 rise in aggravated assaults
represented an actual increase of only one
offense (from 11 to 12), while South Winston
Twos 5 increase involved an increase from 58 to
61.
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Crime Trends Robberies
Robberies rose 3 in the Weed Seed
neighborhoods from 2003 to 2004, while falling 4
in the rest of the city. The overall increase in
robberies in the Weed Seed areas is
attributable to a 39 jump in Northeast Winston
(from 31 to 43). The number of robberies dropped
16 in North Winston (from 45 to 38) and 11 in
South Winston One (from 9 to 8), while remaining
stable in Southeast Winston (6 in each year) and
South Winston Two (44 in each year).
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Crime Trends Sexual offenses
The number of sexual offenses increased between
2003 and 2004, from 28 to 48 (71) in the Weed
Seed areas and from 180 to 217 (21) in the rest
of the city (see Table 1). The largest Weed
Seed neighborhood increase occurred in South
Winston Two (from 6 to 22). The number of sexual
offenses rose from 8 to 13 in North Winston, from
10 to 11 in Northeast Winston, and from 0 to 2 in
Southeast Winston. They fell from 4 to 0 in
South Winston One.
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Table 1. Number of Offenses, 2003 and 2004, Weed
Seed vs. Rest of the City
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Crime Trends Rape charges

• Rape charges, which are less numerous than the
  focus offenses discussed above, fell from 22 in
  2003 to 10 in 2004 in the Weed and Seed areas, a
  dramatic 55 decrease (See Table 1). In the rest
  of the city the number of rapes declined 9, from
  88 to 80. No rapes were reported in South
  Winston One in 2004 (there were 2 in 2003). The
  number of rape charges was cut by three-fourths
  in South Winston Two (from 8 to 2) and by 57 in
  Northeast Winston (from 7 to 3). North Winston
  experienced 4 rape charges in each year, and
  South Winston One saw none in either year.

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Crime Trends Kidnappings

• Kidnappings in the Weed and Seed areas declined
  by 17 (from 18 to 15), comparing 2004 with 2003,
  and the rest of the city saw a 3 decrease (from
  60 to 58). The number of kidnappings fell in
  four of the five Weed and Seed areas Northeast
  Winston (from 5 to 4), Southeast Winston (from 1
  to 0), South Winston One (from 3 to 0), and South
  Winston Two (from 5 to 3). Kidnappings doubled
  in North Winston, from 4 in 2003 to 8 in 2004.

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Crime Trends Homicides

• Four occurred in the Weed Seed areas in 2004,
  the same number as in the previous year. In
  other parts of Winston-Salem, however, homicides
  rose from eight in 2003 to 18 in 2004.

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For more information contact Lynn Harvey, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Sociology  
Phone[phone] Fax [phone] harveyly_at_w
ssu.edu Center for Community Safety 500 West
Fourth St. Suite 102 Winston-Salem, N.C. 27101