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Greensboro police chief discusses recent shootings, violent crime

Greensboro Police Chief Brian James answers questions from city council members during a council meeting on Monday, Nov. 1, 2021. KERI BROWN/WFDD

Greensboro's police chief says his department needs more staffing and resources. He addressed City Council after a challenging week that brought a string of violent crime and homicides.

Chief Brian James says even though City Council approved adding more positions to his department, it's not enough. He says Greensboro loses around 60 officers per year and it takes several months to train new hires.

He wants city leaders to consider approving recruitment and retention bonuses and other incentives. 

Greensboro is trending in the same direction as last year's record number of 63 homicides.

James says the department has been able to take more guns off the streets this year, but he says it will take a holistic approach in the community to make a real difference.

“Since January 1 of last year, we have had 108 homicides," he says. "Ninety-one of the 108 victims were African American and most of them look like me. That's the only way that I can put it in context. And it lets you know that there's something going on in our community and communities all across the country, but right here something is going on that we don't know how to fix right now.”

Greensboro City Council has asked James to update his strategic plan for the department. They will discuss those recommendations in December.

Follow WFDD's Keri Brown on Twitter @kerib_news

Keri Brown is a multi-award winning reporter and host at 88.5 WFDD. She has been honored with two regional Edward R. Murrow awards for her stories about coal ash, and was named the 2015 radio reporter of the year by the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas (RTDNAC).Although she covers a variety of topics, her beats are environmental and education reporting.Keri comes to the Triad from West Virginia Public Broadcasting, where she served as the Chief Bureau Reporter for the Northern Panhandle. She produced stories for the state's Public Television and Radio programs and was honored by the West Virginia Associated Press Broadcasters Association for her feature and enterprise reporting.She also served as an adjunct instructor at Wheeling Jesuit University and Bethany College in West Virginia. She worked with the Center for Educational Technologies in Wheeling, WV, and other NASA centers across the country to develop several stories about the use of science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts in the classroom.Keri's journalism career began at WTRF-TV 7 in Wheeling. She worked in several roles at the station, including the head assignment editor. She also was a field producer and assignment manager at WPGH-TV Fox 53 in Pittsburgh.Keri is a graduate of Ohio University. When she's not in the studio or working on a story, she enjoys watching college football with her family, cooking, and traveling.Keri is always looking for another great story idea, so please share them with her. You can follow her on Twitter @kerib_news.

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