Raleigh police chief addresses violent crime concerns, says city remains safe

Three people were shot at Triangle Town Center and weekend violence near Glenwood South pushed Raleigh police Chief Rico Boyce to address a widening gap between the city’s safety image and what residents are seeing in Wake County.

Boyce used a Tuesday press conference to say Raleigh remains a safe city, pointing to the city’s standing among major places and state capitals. But he also acknowledged that rankings and statistics do little for people who have watched shootings, assaults or other violent incidents unfold in their neighborhoods. The immediate concern, he said, is that a recent cluster of violence is eroding the public’s sense of safety in downtown, in entertainment districts and in the broader community.

That cluster has been most visible in and around Downtown Raleigh and Glenwood South, where residents told CBS 17 they were nervous on weekends after a string of violent incidents. The Triangle Town Center shooting on April 17 added another high-profile case. Police said three people were shot, that the episode may have started with a verbal exchange that turned into a fight between people likely familiar with each other, and that the scene was secure with no active threat to the mall. Boyce said he expected arrests soon in that case.

The chief’s response also reflected the broader strategy now in place at the Raleigh Police Department. Boyce became Raleigh’s 31st police chief in 2025 after a national search, and the city said he took over the federal Public Safety Partnership and the Violent Crime Action Plan. Raleigh said he is leading more than 900 personnel, including 792 sworn officer positions, and that the department’s approach depends on coordination with city officials and law-enforcement partners rather than patrols alone.

The numbers show why the department is trying to hold two ideas at once. Raleigh’s 2025 annual crime data showed total violent crime down 1% from 2024, from 8,610 incidents to 8,541. Property crime fell 17%, and traffic fatalities dropped 3%. At the same time, calls for service rose 7%, completed traffic stops rose 15% and physical arrests rose 2%.

Raleigh’s crime-data page says reports are updated through the National Incident-Based Reporting System and an online mapping tool, and city officials say new 2026 efforts include launching a Crime Mapper tool, expanding ConnectRaleigh camera-sharing, and continuing community police academies and autism-awareness training. The city also says Raleigh ranked No. 10 in a recent SmartAsset list for lower rates of violent crime, traffic deaths and other dangers. The challenge for Boyce is that the city’s reputation and its residents’ lived experience are not always lining up.