Danville Crime Report Indicates Decrease in Homicides and Shootings

The annual report for 2024 from the Danville Police Department has been released. It reveals that while there is an increase in some types of violent crime compared to 2023, the number of homicides has decreased.

That trending decline started years ago from when homicides reached 12. 

“Events of such significance and trauma can affect many individuals’ lives, so it’s crucial for us to address them head-on,” expressed Police Chief Chris Yates.

Moreover, most “quality of life” crimes, as classified by the department, have seen a decline. This category includes incidents such as assaults involving firearms, sexual offenses, and gunfire occurrences—which have fallen by nearly 75% since 2020.

There was an uptick from 2023 to 2024 in other violent crimes like rapes, robberies and burglaries, but a wider look at the data shows the incidents are declining over time.

“In a perfect world, we would say that any time there’s a violent crime the community is appalled by that and it’s not just another crime,” Yates said. 

Yates said while the majority of the numbers are pointing in the right direction, that’s only part of the picture. Their job is to not only react and mitigate crime, but to gauge how the community feels.

“We can tell them any number we want, but if there’s people within different neighborhoods that don’t feel that way, then those numbers are just numbers that mean absolutely nothing to them,” Yates said.

That in mind, Yates said he hopes people in Danville are open and willing to interact with the police so trust can continue to be built. 

“Doesn’t happen in a day, it doesn’t happen in two days,” Yates said. “It’s a  process that we have to continue building a relationship with our community.”

Also worth pointing out from the report, calls for service and arrests have gone up since 2023. Of the about 1,500 cases the department handles, 90% percent have been closed. 

The full report is available here.