The Salem Police Department recently released an annual report revealing trends and changes in the number of homicides, aggravated assaults, burglaries and other crimes over the past 15 years. Last year, there were 10 homicides in Salem, a 15-year high for the city of nearly 180,000 residents. Violent crime overall has increased by 35% since 2009 in Salem, while property crime has declined by 3% over the same time period.
Meanwhile, Salem police and city officials recently kicked off a series of meetings with community members under a new initiative aimed at addressing the surge in gun violence, especially among at-risk youth. Joining us to talk about crime in Salem is Ardeshir Tabrizian, criminal justice reporter for the Salem Reporter.
Note: This transcript was computer generated and edited by a volunteer.
Dave Miller: From the Gert Boyle Studio at OPB, this is Think Out Loud. I’m Dave Miller. Homicides hit a 15-year high in Salem last year. That’s according to a recent report by the Salem Police Department. They found that overall, violent crime increased by 35% since 2009. Ardeshir Tabrizian writes about criminal justice for the Salem Reporter. He joins us now with more details. Welcome back.
Ardeshir Tabrizian: Thanks for having me.
Miller: What stood out the most to you in this year’s report?
Tabrizian: Well, for one thing, the number of violent crimes reported in Salem were down slightly last year, but the number was still significantly higher than it was 10 to 15 years ago, even if you take into account population growth. So it’s going to take more than one down year to change the overall upward trend in violent crime that Salem’s been seeing for over a decade now.
Miller: How much should we read into the fact that there were more homicides in Salem last year than at any time in at least 15 years?
Tabrizian: On one hand, it’s certainly worth noting any time you see a 15-year high for any violent crime, but at the same time, the number of homicides in the last three years have been nine, eight and 10, in that order. So obviously, any life lost is a tragedy, but just in terms of purely numbers, that’s not far off from what it has been.
It’s also important to consider that homicide numbers, especially, tend to swing up and down year to year. And for most of the past 15 years, that number has been anywhere between one and eight.
Miller: But still, it is worth pointing out that last year in Portland, as we’ve talked about, there was a 23% drop in homicides from a record level in 2022. And the same thing was true nationwide. There was a 13% drop nationwide. What do you think is different right now, in Salem?
Tabrizian: You know, it’s probably a number of factors, and I couldn’t definitively tell you what those are. But I do think it’s fair to say that it speaks to that steady rise in violent crime overall in Salem, especially over the last 10 years. Gun violence has been on the rise in recent years in Salem and so has violence involving teens – that’s not the majority of the violence that we’re seeing, but it certainly is on the rise.
I can recall three cases within the last year in which juveniles in Salem have been charged with murder, and just anecdotally, I can say that that’s unusual for this area, and two of those were last year. So when you’re talking about 10 homicides being the highest number, I think that’s at least worth considering.
Miller: How does Salem’s crime rate compare to other Oregon cities that are about the same size?
Tabrizian: Well, Salem and Eugene have basically the same population. Eugene’s only got a few hundred more people, as of a couple years ago, at least. And it’s tough to compare overall crime, just because of the different ways in which the two cities break down their data. But if you look at property crimes and violent crime, Salem saw significantly more property crime in 2023. Salem had around 6,300 property crimes, and Eugene had around 4,100.
And then, without getting too in the weeds, it’s best to look at 2022 for violent crime just because the more recent data is in a format that’s more difficult to compare to Salem. But in 2022, reports of homicide, rape, aggravated assault, and robbery were around 800 in Salem, and it was around 550 in Eugene. So the short answer is, Salem has been seeing more violent crime and property crime than Eugene in recent years with a similar population.
Miller: I started with homicides because it really stood out to me, a 15-year record, but there was actually an overall decrease in violent crime in Salem last year. What happened?
Tabrizian: Looking at the numbers, there were 807 violent crimes reported in 2023, and that’s compared with 871 the previous year. And like I said about homicides, violent crime does tend to fluctuate a bit, but it’s steadily gone up about 61% over the last decade. And the population’s gone up only about 16% during that time, so even though violent crime was down last year, it’s important to know that the overall trend is still upward.
Miller: How much have police, whether it’s a police chief or other leaders, talked about crime and crime rates in the context of Salem’s really serious budget issues?
Tabrizian: Well, it’s definitely been a part of the conversation. There’s been a rise in recent years, like I said, of shootings in Salem that leave people injured or dead. We don’t have data on shootings in which nobody’s hurt. But the chief has said that his ideal response, for example, would be to create a new team of around six officers dedicated to shootings, who work with community organizations and pinpoint people who are most at risk of being victims or shooters, and steer them away from violence by getting them help.
But in order to do that, they’re going to need to shift officers from other duties or get more funding, and getting more money would be a challenge at a time that the city is already facing significant budget cuts. And the rise in violent crime has already pulled police away from other types of crimes. So the chief has said that they’re not able to investigate things like property crimes to the extent that they used to, because they’ve had the same budget for 15 years. But more and more people are shooting each other than they used to.
Miller: One response to all this, especially shootings and homicides, is the Community Violence Reduction Initiative. Can you explain what this is?
Tabrizian: That’s an ongoing effort being led by the mayor, Chris Hoy, and the police chief, Trevor Womack, that’s supposed to bring together law enforcement agencies and community organizations to focus on preventing shootings. Salem Police have already assigned one of their deputy chiefs to lead the department’s work on that effort. And the city is also hiring for a temporary violence coordinator – the name of the position in the city manager’s office – to oversee the program. And that position would be paid for by salary savings from vacant positions.
The city also had a couple of public forums about this effort, and there are supposed to be a couple more by the end of the year to help flesh out the violence initiative. The mayor and the chief have said that they plan to take the rest of the year to come up with their plan. But a lot of folks in the community who have attended these forums so far have said that they want action now, and there’s no time to wait for solutions.
Miller: In 30 seconds or so, how much do you hear about public safety or fear of violence when you talk to Salemites?
Tabrizian: Well, to some extent, it depends who you ask. But certainly, if you ask people in Northeast Salem, where shootings have been heavily concentrated in recent years, they’re not surprised by these numbers. And even though the police didn’t necessarily want to talk about gangs until very recently, people in Northeast Salem know that there’s been a gang problem because they see graffiti, they hear the gunshots in the middle of the night, and some of them are directly impacted by it, family members, etc. And there have been some high profile shootings and such in the past couple of years in Salem. So, I don’t wanna sound alarmist, but there does seem to be at least a perception that Salem is less safe than it used to be.
Miller: Ardeshir, thanks very much.
Tabrizian: Thanks for having me.
Miller: Ardeshir Tabrizian is a criminal justice reporter for the Salem Reporter.
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