Fayetteville mayor weighs in on 2025 homicide spike: 'I don't count this spike as a failure'

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (WTVD) -- The mayor of Fayetteville sat down with ABC11 after the city has had a series of homicides since the beginning of the year already outnumbering the first quarter of 2024. Mitch Colvin shared his perspective on the issue as well as his vision for Fayetteville Police.

FPD said there have been eight homicides this month. Last year, from January to March, there were only three.

ABC11: What does it say to you that we already have so many incidents of violent crime in Fayetteville since the start of the year? And are you concerned that we might be regressing as a city when it comes to that violent crime?

Colvin: "You know, I am proud of the progress we've made. At the end of last year, we had one of the lowest violent crime numbers that we've had in a decade nearly. And I don't count this spike as a failure in that and nor do I see a regression, you know, any trend or any averages.

You know, the good thing about or I guess, the challenge when you have a real good year is that the following year are your comparison numbers. And so we're seeing that, you know, we're looking down into what the basis and origin of some of these incidents were. And that's where we can see about our trends. You know, you're going to have good and bad months, but I don't think we throw out a ten-year record based on a spike.

And so we're certainly looking into if there are any policy changes that impacted this. You know, we've invested heavily in building the bridge between the community and the police department. We know that we can't legislate or police our way out of this. We do believe that we win as a community and we've gotten their buy-in and we've invested in our young people to make sure that they have positive options instead of leaving, you know, them to take care of themselves in the streets.

We've also invested in community partnerships that have yielded great benefits, and we'll continue to do that. But as we look at these numbers, we want to look at the root causes of it. You know, this is not specific to Fayetteville. You know, January had started out in a you know, in a bad way in a number of areas.

You know, I've looked at Raleigh and some of the challenges they've had and with North Hills and some of the things that are just kind of unusual. So we're getting our arms around what causes that."

ABC11: What do you think, if anything, might be behind the trend that we're seeing? Do you attribute it to any environmental or societal factors?

Colvin: "I mean, I think as a country overall, we've been dealing with a lot of incredibly stressful and polarizing factors.

Well, you know, certainly that is definitely a consideration we saw nationally and certainly here in the state that there was a huge spike after COVID. People had a lot of anxiety. They were dealing with things in a different way. We also have seen a loosening of regulations that allow more gun ownership. And I'm not blaming that because I'm a gun owner myself.

But what I'll say is that that then gives the availability of people to deal with conflicts in a, in a different way. And so what we're seeing, we think could be contributed to some extra anxieties. You know, you're coming off of the holiday period. There's been economic pressures put on. There was a tension that the country had behind this last election that divided us.

And we think there are a number of factors that play into that. And that's why we're looking into these trends. From a policy perspective, we want to make sure that our partnerships are strong. You know, domestic violence, a lot of these incidents were related to that. You know, it's hard to legislate in between a confrontation between two partners.

But what you can do is make sure the resources are there to identify those problems early and mitigate the outcomes that we've seen. And those are the kind of things that we're going to concentrate on."

ABC11: What do you have to say to people in the community who are frustrated by the state of violence and maybe aren't following the larger story as closely to really understand the lows we had before vs. where we're at now?

Colvin: "Well, you know, I would say, listen, you know, as we first thing is we want to do is ensure the confidence to know that this has our attention and it is a priority. Public safety is and will continue to be a priority for myself and the city council members. We're working on it. But what we will say is that the role that the community plays is if you see an incident or you have information about a conflict, let us know about it early.

And we have expanded the ways that you can do that. You can text 911. You remain anonymous. You can call us, you can do a number of things to help portray that information because the best partners we have are our eyes and ears in the community, we've given out hundreds of cameras to community watches and to seniors who can't afford doorbell cameras to put it on their properties to help us be a force multiplier.

We've expanded the city's technology to implement A.I. into our camera systems to help us identify incidents and hopefully bring those people to justice. And I would say this, too. We've worked hard and we have a clinic to help with recidivism that we help people expunge their records so that they're successful. You know, the likelihood that someone will commit a crime after they return from incarceration is high, and we've worked hard to kind of mitigate that.

So, I think it will take a full-on approach. But we also have the police. Enforcement is going to be a necessary part of this. And I think we've given that message loud and clear to the city manager, to the chief, and to the upcoming chief. Then we want you out enforcing the law and we want to make sure that we've got the highest and best-trained police force to help us show their presence and deal with people who choose to do violent things."

ABC11: (Police Chief Kem Braden) is stepping down from his role in a few months as we're dealing with this current chapter of these elevated homicide levels. Are you concerned that this transition could impact the progress that we've made, particularly during Chief Braden's tenure?

Colvin: Well, I hope not. And, and what we want to do is make sure that that transition is seamless. You know, Chief Braden is not just packing his bags and walking out the door. He's agreed to help us in the transition. We're starting now a national search that we're looking within the department and externally for people who have experience in communities like that.

And we think that will be an important attribute, at least in my opinion, is that someone is familiar with our community that, that understands the things and the challenges that we have and the good and the bad. And so that we're going to do all we can to make sure that the infrastructure is there to have a support for a new chief to come in and implement their vision, understanding it will take both the carrot and the stick approach. And so, you know, we think that we can find the right candidate."

ABC11: A large part of the process for finding a new chief is gathering feedback from the community on what they want. Of course, we're in the infancy stage of all that but for you as mayor, what would you like to see in the next police chief?

Colvin: "Yeah, I want to see someone who, you know, buys into the success of this community. That's important because I believe that that attitude trickles from the top down. And if the chief comes in with a positive, can-do, can-get-it-done attitude, then it'll fall down to those below him or her. I would also like to see someone that has the law-enforcement experience that is a police officer that we've seen that this problem that communities can't be saved by community and social answers only.

We have to have a law-enforcement component and we want someone who has that perspective. But we also need them sensitive to the fact that this is a community partnership that they get out in the community if they're not engaged already and learn the people of this community that will help make them successful."