Winston-Salem homicides on the decline from record year in 2023

Winston-Salem saw a record number of homicides in 2023. This year, though, the number has declined.

There were 47 homicides in Winston-Salem last year. That’s more than the city has ever experienced in one year.

As of early December of 2024, the number had dropped by more than 40 percent.

Annie Sims is the public information officer for the Winston-Salem Police Department. She says help with targeting recidivist criminals is one of the efforts that has made a difference.

“We're getting these repeat violent offenders off the street in a coordinated effort, kind of with our neighboring law enforcement agencies, the court system and juvenile justice, as well as internally," she says. "So we're targeting kind of a small population responsible for, honestly, a disproportionate amount of crimes that we've seen in our city.”

Sims says she’s also seeing improvement in how residents are peacefully resolving issues and reporting disputes to police before they become violent.

Greensboro also saw a drop in homicides from its record high of 74 in 2023. As of early December, the number was also down by more than 40 percent.