University police respond to presence of gun violence on campus

Katrina Lee, News Editor

Andrew Kerley, contributing writer

Aggravated assaults with firearms have increased over the past year, according to data from the Richmond Police Department.

Business marketing student Victoria Adams said she feels like she doesn’t know what is going on in terms of crime on campus and it “stresses” her out.

“I’m a first year student here, and I’m from a smaller town and coming to Richmond,” Adams said. “I was kind of expecting to have a little bit of crime but like, I feel sometimes that like the VCU police, they don’t release enough information for me to feel like I can be more aware.” 

Adams said she wished that VCU police gave more updates and details on crimes on and near campus, such as if they caught the subject or not. 

Graphic design student Mimi Paul said she generally feels safe when they are on campus. 

“I feel like the campus is pretty heavily policed in this area right by where all the dorms are and everything, but outside I wouldn’t feel safe,” Paul said.

There was a shooting less than four blocks away from campus last month. RPD officers responded to the 200 block of South Laurel Street for a report of a shooting on Sept. 5, according to RPD in an email statement. 

The university alert system notified students nearly two hours after the event.

RPD officers located two male victims suffering from gunshot wounds. Both males were transported to a local hospital for non-life-threatening injuries. As of Sept. 14, RPD could not provide any further information on the current state of investigation, according to RPD spokesperson Chelsea Taylor. 

VCU police spokesperson Corey Byers stated in an email that VCU police are assisting the RPD in the investigation. She also stated VCU police listens to the community by taking feedback from students, family, staff and local residents, as well as issuing an annual safety survey. 

“The VCU Police leadership team has actively listened to community concerns during the first few weeks of classes and is enhancing safety strategies for the academic year,” Byers stated. “The department’s top goals are to increase the visibility and deployment of officers, increase engagement with community members and to be relentless in our follow up on all incidents.”

To that end, VCU police has recently hired a dozen new officers and has expanded their units for more coverage in and around campus.  

“We are also enhancing police patrols specifically in the Grace Street corridor and in Monroe Park,” Byers stated. “We are expanding officers’ deployment for party-related incidents and noise complaints and we’re actively in the process of hiring dispatchers and police recruits.”

VCU police will be focusing on the entire Grace Street corridor from Ryland to Belvidere Streets due to the number of students living there, according to Byers. 

Yearly homicides involving firearms in the city were 50 as of Oct. 2, 2021 and 38 as of Oct. 2, 2022, according to the RPD website.

Pastor Ralph Hodge is the co-president of Richmonders Involved to Strengthen our Communities, an organization dedicated to holding public officials accountable for solving Richmond’s critical problems, according to the organization’s website. 

The organization has focused on the issue of gun violence because there was an increase in gun related crime in the city at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Hodge. 

“You’re going to see this rise, so I think it’s worse and I think if we don’t do something, we’re headed to what we had in the ‘80s, in regard to violent crime, and right now you’re just seeing it more and more,” Hodge said.

Violent crime in Richmond since 1986 has been steadily declining from 5,205 cases to below 2,500 cases in the mid-2000s, according to the Urban Strategies Council.

RISC is advocating for a gun violence problem analysis, which is an overview of gun violence in the city which would provide data and information on common factors around the issue. The data from the analysis would indicate where and on whom the resources should be focused, according to Hodge. 

“The problem analysis is the first step to doing Gun Violence Intervention because that really helps you target where your interventions need to go because the gun violence analysis really highlights these are the key factors, key demographics, and answers a bunch of questions,” Hodge said. 

RISC is planning to meet with several community leaders who take part in gun violence prevention to advocate for a problem analysis including VCU, according to Hodge.

Democrat congressman Donald McEachin of the 4th Congressional District gave $1 million in grant money to university leaders on April 14 for VCU’s new program titled RVA Gun Violence Prevention Framework, according to a previous report from The Commonwealth Times.

The framework is still in the process of receiving the funding, but is currently in the planning process of the framework, according to VCU Health program manager Rachelle Hunley.

The framework has different components including an intensive case management component, a shooting and homicide review commission, a credible messenger component, a prevention component and more aiming to curb gun violence in the city, according to Hunley. 

The intensive case management component of the framework works with Bridging the Gap, a program at VCU Health which provides community violence intervention, Hunley said. 

“Any type of violence related injury, we start at the bedside. We have either a peer support so someone who’s experienced with violence or an intervention specialist, who’s essentially like a case manager, they start to work with the family,” Hunely said. 

The plans for this framework began three years ago. The first stage of the process was to create a steering committee where community activists, individuals affected by gun violence, large organizations and grassroot providers took part in creating recommendations for the framework. 

“Community voice was at the center of developing this framework,” Hunely said. 

Hunely wanted to highlight that this framework will take time to implement and see results from the multiple components.

“Next steps for us is to continue to meet with our collaborative. We are hoping to put forth some more implementations and next steps to the public,” Hunley said.