Rocky Mount, NC: You Fix Neighborhoods By Making Them Safe:

Stand on one of the streets in Wards 1–4.

There is no crime happening before your eyes, no sirens or flashing lights. But its presence is everywhere, in the silence, in the shuttered homes, in the caution that has settled into the air.

Crime is not visible in the moment, but it lingers in what it leaves behind. Without safety, nothing can thrive.

Standing in Ward #2, I talked with an older Black woman about life in her neighborhood. With weary eyes she said, “Honey, nothin’ gonna change until you get the crime out of here.”

In the Happy Hill neighborhood, I was talking with a woman about her street. When I mentioned driving over to Star and Holy Streets, she shook her head and said, “I don’t think you should go over there.”

Another time, as the light faded, several women I was talking with told me, “You need to get along home now.”

The first time it happened I was struck with the fact that, yes, I could get in my car and drive away. But, as I looked in my rear view mirror at them, they had to stay, carrying the weight of living in a place where danger is real.

Safe Neighborhoods Are Not Optional

Rocky Mount’s crime picture has been mixed. In 2023, violent crime fell 6%, but property crime jumped 18%. For residents, that meant a 1 in 115 chance of violent crime and a 1 in 31 chance of property crime.

This year brings signs of hope. By mid-2025, violent crime was down 8% and property crime down 11% year-over-year. Progress is real, but fragile.

The Rocky Mount Police Department are our heroes. Officers respond to calls, investigate crimes, and work with community groups. With new data-driven tools, they are fighting smarter.

Sgt. Jonathan Denotter put it this way: “Instead of just relying on guesswork, now we’re relying on years of data showing where crime is most likely to occur.” Chief Robert Hassell echoed the results: “Our approach is working. We’ve seen an eight-percent reduction in violent crime over the past year.”

Yet numbers don’t tell the whole story. Wards 1–4 live with decline, gangs, and neglect. A woman in Ward 2 said it best: until crime is addressed, nothing changes.

Safe neighborhoods are not optional. They are the ground on which tomorrow is built. That means equipping police, removing gangs, and moving Neighborhood Associations from good intentions to action. Only then will businesses invest, homes gain value, and community pride return.

If I could wave a magic wand, I’d fill it with restoration properties, homes made whole again, streets lit with safety, neighbors unafraid to sit on their porches after dark. I’d place in every hand a house key.

That magic wand doesn’t exist. What we have instead is resolve, the choice to say that crime will not define us, and that every street in Rocky Mount is worthy of safety and pride. For those who live in the shadow of violence, relief cannot come soon enough.