From the Richmond Police Department’s Lt. Edward M. Capriglione:

Community Noteworthy Report

Sector 313:

July 2010:

Violent Crime:  25% decrease

07/2010 vs. 07/2009 – six (6) crimes vs. eight (8) crimes.

Property Crime: 12% decrease

07/2010 vs. 07/2009 – fifty-three (53) crimes vs. sixty (60) crimes

Major Crime: 13% decrease

07/2010 vs. 07/2009 – fifty-nine (59) crimes vs. sixty-eight (68) crimes

ROBBERY – INDIVIDUAL 100% increase

07/2010 vs. 07/2009 – four (4) robberies vs. two (2) robberies

Read more >

A recent story on nbc12 calls the area around Randolph Street “Richmond’s safest neighborhood”:

The neighborhood on Randolph Street looks like any other but it’s what you don’t see that makes it the most different. Illegal activity here is not only decreasing, but police have found it rivals other areas in metro Richmond.

“As far as violent crimes, it’s a minimum,” said Lt. Michael Stith with the Richmond Police Department. “This is probably one of the safest places in the city to be honest with you.”

Read more >

The June crime report from the Richmond Police Department is posted below. For those who scrutinized last month’s report. We saw a 250% increase in robberies (from 2 to 7 in the 3rd precinct).  This month, there were another seven robberies, which is the same number seen in June 2009.  However, the other categories may be of greater interest.  Read on and contribute your thoughts:

Community Noteworthy Report

June 2010

Sector 313

Sector 313:

June 2010:

Violent Crime: 0% increase

06/2010 vs. 06/2009 – eight (8) crimes vs. eight (8) crimes.

Property Crime: 2% decrease

06/2010 vs. 06/2009 – sixty-five (65) crimes vs. sixty-six (66) crimes

Major Crime: 1% decrease

06/2010 vs. 06/2009 – seventy-three (73) crimes vs. seventy-four (74) crimes

ROBBERY – INDIVIDUAL

0% increase

06/2010 vs. 06/2009 – seven (7) robberies vs. seven (7) robberies

Trends/Patterns:

The locations and/or suspect descriptions involving the seven (7) robberies of individuals that occurred in May are listed below:

Read more >

Live in the Randolph area? Look for the Richmond Police starting at 6PM for a neighborhood walk through to learn about your concerns. [via]

The following data was supplied by the Richmond Police Dept’s Lt. Edward M. Capriglione:

Community Noteworthy Report

May 2010, Sector 313

Violent Crime: 0% increase
05/2010 vs. 05/2009 – nine (9) crimes vs. nine (9) crimes.

Property Crime: 13% decrease
05/2010 vs. 05/2009 – forty-seven (47) crimes vs. fifty-four (54) crimes

Major Crime: 11% decrease
05/2010 vs. 05/2009 – fifty-six (56) crimes vs. sixty-three (63) crimes

ROBBERY – INDIVIDUAL

250% increase
05/2010 vs. 05/2009 – seven (7) robberies vs. two (2) robberies

Read more >

This afternoon, the police discovered a woman shot multiple times in a car parked on the 1200 block of Lakeview Ave near Harrison Street in the Randolph neighborhood.  She was taken to the hospital and was pronounced dead shortly afterwards

E-mail Advisory 4/2/10

Richmond Police Department

Lakeview Ave. Homicide

The Richmond Police Department is investigating a homicide that occurred shortly before 11 a.m. in the city’s Randolph Neighborhood.

The victim, Tarchelle Nicole Daniel, 36, of 1212 Lakeview Ave. was shot as she sat in a car parked behind her residence. She was transported to VCUMC where she was pronounced dead at 11:35 a.m.

Police have developed a strong suspect and do not believe this was a random shooting.

Anyone with any information about this crime is asked to call the Richmond Police Tips Line at 514-TIPS (8477) or Crime Stoppers at 780-1000.

Update: The Times-Dispatch is reporting that the suspect they were pursuing in the murder has killed himself after fatally shooting another victim in Church Hill. Tarchelle Nicole Daniel’s 16 year old daughter was attending school at Thomas Jefferson High School and her 13 year old son was inside their apartment at the time of the shooting.

A controversially titled blog, Gentrifying Richmond: Transitional Neighborhood Lowdown, posted an entry in December giving suggestions on when/if a neighbor should call the police on another neighbor. However, now that the sun is starting to warm things up, people are coming out of their homes and laying eyes on each other in the full light of day, like it or not. And nocturnal party behavior has begun to spill out into the public sphere of porches, yards, and streets sometimes into the wee hours, like it or not. If ever there was an occasion to talk about the etiquette surrounding neighborhood conflict resolution, this is as good a time as any.

Read more >

You see baby strollers parked on people’s porches all the time.  Bringing the bulky things inside isn’t always an option.  After a year and a half of good luck, our stroller was stolen from our porch on Rosewood Ave sometime after Thanksgiving.

I understand that we were taking a risk by leaving it outside, but we’d just had a railing put around the porch and the gate was closed. So, anyone removing it would have been conspicuous and noisy.  Neighbors, keep an eye out for each other (and an eye out for this stroller).  And to my dogs, forget that I told you to stop barking at passers-by.

If you have to leave your stroller on your porch, I suggest a lock of some kind.

From a concerned Byrd Parker:

I thought this merited a post on the blog.  Last night my wife and I looked out our window and saw two guys trying to break into cars on the 2100 block of Rosewood. We called the police, and they later picked up one of the men rummaging through a vehicle.  He had three Samsung cellphones on him and some Ipod accessories.  The police are trying to find the owners of these items.  If any of these items belong to you, you can contact the 3rd precinct at 646-1414. The officer I spoke with also urged residents of our neighborhood to be vigilant and keep valuables out of sight in your vehicles.  They have picked this guy up before in this area, and it’s very likely he will be back again.

Has anyone else had items stolen from their car in the neighborhood?  Any more advice for keeping your belongings safe and discouraging theft?  Please post your thoughts on this in the comments section.

Download the full police report here or visit the sector 313 website here

Crimes of note:

July 6
Commander Smith received a complaint of open-air drug dealing in the 1300 block of Wallace Street. The complainant said he was concerned that the drug dealing was negatively impacting elderly tenants of an apartment building as well as the kids who played at a nearby park.

After Officers Richard Kelly and Joe Ronan were assigned to investigate the complaint, they drove an unmarked SUV to the 1300 block of Wallace Street to scout the area.

Upon arrival they saw a dark-colored Cadillac parked at the corner of Randolph and Wallace Streets; directly across from the park mentioned by the complainant. As they drove by the parked car they saw the driver weighing crack cocaine on a small digital scale. The officers were able to exit their unmarked vehicle and make the arrest without incident. A subsequent search of the car revealed drug packaging material, US currency, and a loaded .40 caliber handgun. As a result, the drugs and firearm were seized and the suspect was charged with several drug-related felonies as well as a felony firearm charge.

July 19
Officers John Raina and Paul Sullivan responded to a 911 call and arrested a suspect after a citizen saw him going in and out of several cars in the 2100 block of Maplewood Avenue. As a result, Wayne K. Moore Jr., 19, of the 3500 block of Forest Haven Drive, was arrested and charged with theft from motor vehicle.

Other than that, the month of July was pretty quiet for Byrd Park.