Attorney General Miyares discusses crime reduction rates in Ceasefire Cities

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) – Attorney General Jason Miyares, joined by Speaker Don Scott, announced crime reduction statistics within ceasefire cities.

During a press conference held at the Slover Library in Norfolk Wednesday morning, Miyares discussed new trends and reductions in crime in Virginia’s highest crime cities through the Operation Ceasefire program.

Operation Ceasefire, which was launched in late 2022, aims to tackle gun violence with “rigorous prosecution and community prevention,” working within local communities in an attempt to reduce and prevent violent crime.

Operation Ceasefire Cities currently include Richmond, Petersburg, Norfolk, Hampton, Newport News, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Roanoke, Emporia, Lynchburg, Martinsville, Danville and Hopewell.

According to Miyares, Operation Ceasefire has prosecuted 155 cases, leading to 106 convictions and 41 pending trials.

Violent offender off the streets in Portsmouth with help from Operation Ceasefire

Of the 13 Ceasefire Cities, 12 of them saw reductions in crime after only a year of implementation. Nine of those cities saw an overall reduction in violent crime, with cities reporting 225 fewer crimes in 2023 than in 2022.

Hopewell saw the largest reduction of violent crime, with a 33% drop. Norfolk reported a 26% drop in violent crime and a 31% decrease in murders.

Petersburg, Portsmouth and Richmond also saw an overall decrease in violent crime, reporting a 17%, 8% and 7% reduction respectively.

Wednesday, Miyares applauded the initiative’s three-pronged approach.

“When you have this effort of prevention and intervention and prosecution, you could see that crime goes down,” he said.

He added that it’s a collaboration between federal, state, and local powers, saying decreasing crime starts with investing in the community.

“You have to invest in these young men lives to show them not to go down a separate path, but a path of hope and dignity,” he said, ““Young men particularly get a sense of belonging oftentimes from being a part of it, either community school activities or after school sports. And a lot of them got to the gang lifestyle, as this gentleman shared with me, almost by accident. It was a sense of belonging, was a sense of connection. We want to make sure they get the connection in the right areas.”

He said they’re working alongside many community-based programs including Ketchmore Kids in Newport News and Big Homies in Portsmouth.

Speaker Don Scott said $22 million will fund the next two years of the initiative, also applauding his work on getting a witness protection program included in the overall budget.

He told 10 On Your Side more times than not, social media is a part of the crime issue.

“That’s where it begins, because a lot of this stuff and a lot of recruiting, a lot of the acts, the actions that people are doing to gain more popularity, gain street cred is happening on social media,” he said.

On the other hand, Miyares said technology can help their agenda moving forward, in reference to instances where people upload gang activity to YouTube.

“You can actually zero that in and create a short, a 15 second video that’s attached to the disk video saying listen if you use a gun in the commission of a crime, it’s more time.”

More information on Ceasefire Cities can be found here.

Check with WAVY.com for more updates.

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