VIRGINIA BEACH — Police Chief Jim Cervera briefed City Council Tuesday on the police department’s 2018 mid-year review of the city’s crime statistics.
The report indicates a city with the same arrest rates as the first half of 2017:
- There were 3,267 arrests city-wide during the first half of 2018, nearly unchanged from the 2017 mid-year report showing 3,270 arrests.
- Out of the 165 aggravated assaults during the first half of this year, 75 were domestic-related, or 47 percent. It is unclear how this compares to numbers of years past, as Cervera’s presentation does not provide that breakdown. Questions about those comparisons were referred to the police department’s FOIA office.
- Thirteen aggravated assault shootings occurred at the Oceanfront during the first half of 2018, according to the report, constituting 42 percent of all aggravated assault shootings in the city. Of the 18 aggravated assault shootings in Virginia Beach outside the Oceanfront, six were homicides, according to the report. It was unclear how these number compare to 2017, or how many of these incidents involved illegal weapons.
- Some of the city’s most active areas of criminal activity include the Oceanfront, Bayside area near Baker Road, and the Holland Road Corridor near Lynnhaven Parkway, according to the report.
