The Journal breaks down Winston-Salem’s 25 murders in 2007, the highest number since 1996 when there were 28 homicides.
In an interesting contrast to Greensboro, Winston-Salem city leaders aren’t exactly wringing their hands, despite the grim possibility suggested by an ASU criminologist:
“It suggests the possibility that the city is moving back to the darker days of the late 1980s and early 1990s when murder was at its highest levels nationwide,” said Matthew Robinson, a criminologist at Appalachian State University.
Others say that an increase from 21 homicides in 2006 to 25 this year shouldn’t be seen as dire. “If we had several years of growing numbers, that could be viewed negatively by someone looking at us here,’’ Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines said. “I think most cities see that their homicide rates go up and down. You have to look at your overall violent-crime rate, and when you look at that we are lower than other North Carolina cities.”
Gayle Anderson, the president of the Greater Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce, took a similar view.
“If we were looking at going from 18 to 26 to 50 or whatever, then I think it would raise some questions,” she said. “The raw numbers are not so great that it would raise such questions, or it hasn’t so far.”
