SALISBURY, Md.- Crime across the city of Salisbury did not significantly increase or decrease, according to data out of the Salisbury Police Department. Chief David Meienschein says the department did see a slight increase in property crimes, like car thefts.
“We see folks that just forget to lock their vehicles and folks. Of course it’s a crime of opportunity so if they’re shaking a door checking if it’s unlocked and there’s something there it’s an easy target,” said Meienschein.
“Rarely a smash of a window does happen, but usually that’s if there is something valuable in plain view. That could be change in the console… could be anything. But we are seeing a slight uptick in those types of numbers from theft from vehicles,” said Meienschein.
As for all other crimes, Meienschein says those numbers did not fluctuate much in 2023.
“It’s kind of running at a steady pace. It kind of fluctuates a little bit, primarily what we are running into as far as the challenge for us is the gun crimes,” said Meienschein.
Meienschein says in the coming year, the department will take more proactive approaches.
“We are really concentrating on pulling guns off the street. We’re having quite a bit of success in those numbers in terms of pulling guns off. That is a proactive approach to addressing those concerns by pulling the guns off the streets, and so forth it’s going to have an effect on reducing other crimes in the city,” said Meienschein.
Meienschein says he is also looking to effectively distribute officers across the city.
“We’re looking at expanding that and ways to modify that to better serve or better have our officers, put them in areas of the city that are drawing more of our attention. So making sure we are doing proper deployment as we move into the future, and looking at crime trends and being able to adjust our sector assignments accordingly,” said Meienschein.
WBOC spoke with some Salisbury residents to learn how safe they feel in city limits. Travis Love says he feels safe in nearly any part of the city.
“I have no issue walking down the street at 11 o'clock, sometimes three in the morning. I wake up at five, leave the door at six and I’m on the road. I have no issue walking down the street in most places in Salisbury,” said Love.
Others like Pam Lynch disagree.
"I don’t feel safe at all. I’m not driving. I’m not going out at night because of it. I'm very concerned about what’s going on with the juvenile. I used to be in the school system and I’m glad I’m not in there now,” said Lynch.
“When I was growing up, we didn’t lock doors. We were allowed to stay out until 11 o’clock at night and our parents didn’t worry about us would be out playing tag or hide and seek you know no kids can’t even go outside and play today,” said Lynch.
Crime statistics can be found on the Salisbury Police Department website.