<\/p>\n
RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) – The Richmond Police Department has upped its presence in Shockoe Bottom after seeing repeated issues in the area. However, Chief Rick Edwards still has concerns, as it is a heavily populated area each weekend.<\/p>\n
The city is now exploring other measures to bring down gun violence in the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe reason Shockoe Bottom is a concern, and also other pop-up parties are a concern, is for the possibility of mass shootings,\u201d Chief Edwards said. <\/p>\n
Shockoe Bottom is seen as a safe place to work and walk around in the daytime.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel safe. I know that Shockoe Bottom seems to transform as the evening hours approach. It\u2019s very different down here at night. There\u2019s a lot more people down here, just a different vibe than there is during the daytime,\u201d Justin Doyle, who works in the area, said.<\/p>\n
Edwards says the combination of people and alcohol, with the possibility of firearms, is what makes it problematic at times. <\/p>\n
Back in May, a DPW employee was caught in crossfire in Shockoe while on the job and ended up in the hospital.<\/p>\n
Edwards mentioned another incident where a group got into an argument in April, left the area, and then returned with a gun.<\/p>\n
He says it could have ended much worse, and he\u2019s trying to prevent such situations.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo many of the folks we\u2019re encountering are not criminals. They don\u2019t have a criminal history. They just think it\u2019s a cool thing to do to bring my gun to the city,\u201d Chief Edwards said. \u201cAnd before they know it, they\u2019re in a fight and they\u2019re using one of those weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n
The city has to balance having the area lively and good for business with keeping it safe.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want you to come to our city, we want you to enjoy the great restaurants we have and the nightlife, but leave your guns at home, and we\u2019ll provide the security,\u201d Chief Edwards said.<\/p>\n
Councilmember Sarah Abubaker asked about the possibility of having Shockoe as an entertainment district with a \u2018no gun zone.\u2019<\/p>\n
Chief Edwards says it\u2019s something that\u2019s come up in recent conversations.<\/p>\n
\u201cMayor Avula just was texting me today about the possibility of trying to do something like in Times Square, New York, Times Square, it\u2019s illegal to possess a firearm even for those who have concealed weapons permits,\u201d Chief Edwards said. \u201cEven if it\u2019s during timeframes, obviously, more folks are moving to Shockoe Bottom to live, and we can make accommodations for anyone who lives there, but folks who are coming to visit and spend time in that district, I think we would benefit from having that extra tool in our toolbox.\u201d<\/p>\n
Councilmember Stephanie Lynch says it has been discussed before, but there have been difficulties surrounding its legality.<\/p>\n
Chief Edwards says it has worked with parks, though the city owns the land. The following steps would involve conversations with the City Attorney\u2019s office to determine whether the zones could be possible on specific dates or, if not, all the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cEither way, it would be very helpful if you all come back next month or something and say, this is the direction we want to go and that way we can get it underway,\u201d Lynch said. <\/p>\n
Edwards also shared an update on the overall crime rate in the city. His data had property crime numbers from July, which showed property crime is down across the city.<\/p>\n
His numbers for violent crime were as of Sept. 22, and most categories looked suitable for Richmond. However, the overall violent crime data point is up 3%, which is due to a 87% jump in aggravated assault\/domestic incidents.<\/p>\n
The Chief explained this is a bit of an outlier, as his team just changed how those crimes are reported, so on paper, it looks higher than what is actually happening.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing has changed. It\u2019s our reporting structure, but again, that\u2019s accounting for some of the violent crime increase. It is significant, but when we review them line by line, it is that new direction we\u2019re giving to our officers to report it as such,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
RPD\u2019s latest data also shows a decrease in the number of guns stolen in the city. In 2025, the total is 360, though it was 410 last year. Chief Edwards showed a map with Shockoe Bottom as the center of that problem in the past.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 WWBT. All rights reserved.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.12onyourside.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) – The Richmond Police Department has upped its presence in Shockoe Bottom after seeing repeated issues in the area. However, Chief Rick Edwards still has concerns, as it is a heavily populated area each weekend. The city is now exploring other measures to bring down gun violence in the area. \u201cThe reason […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[22188,307525,309865,309863,309862,309864,309866,309861],"class_list":["post-2045022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-live-speeches","tag-live-updates","tag-live-video","tag-press-conference","tag-real-time-coverage","tag-video-updates"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2045022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2045022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2045022\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2045022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2045022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2045022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}