ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — According to a report from the Council on Criminal Justice, homicides were down in cities nationwide during the first half of this year.

It found that homicide cases dropped 9.4% from the same time in 2022 in 30 cities studied. No Tampa Bay cities were included in that report, but St. Petersburg Police told Spectrum Bay News 9 their numbers haven't changed much.

What You Need To Know

  • The Council on Criminal Justice reports a 9.4% reduction in homicides so far this year in 30 cities studied nationwide

  • Tampa Bay cities were not included in the report, but St. Petersburg Police say there were ten homicides between Jan. 1 and June 30 compared to nine during that same time last year

  • SPPD's G.R.I.T. unit works to prevent violence from escalating to the point of homicide in neighborhoods by investigating non-fatal shootings

  • The department's assistant chief says the unit allows more resources to be allocated to these cases faster

A department spokesperson said there were ten reported homicides from Jan. 1 through June 30 compared to nine at the same time last year. Asst. Chief Michael Kovacsev said there's another important number to consider when it comes to this type of crime.

"We have averaged in the high 90s and, several years recently, 100% closure rates, which is amazing when you have a discussion about violent crime or even incidents that occur within the city. So, it's about not only the numbers that we have but making sure we close them," Kovacsev said.

Kovacsev said there are initiatives in place to try to prevent violence from getting to the point of homicide, including the G.R.I.T. unit.

"They're like a clearinghouse of all the shootings that occur that don't have a homicide attached to it," he said.

According to Kovacsev, that can include shots fired calls or a case involving a shooting victim who shows up at a hospital and doesn't want to talk with police. 

"It's a gun reduction opportunity to try to get out and address those crimes," he said. "The shootings that occur within the city, especially any kind of violent crime that occurs in the city, detectives will follow up on. But what we've tried over the last year, year and a half, even up to two years ago, we've tried to have our detectives go out and start investigating those immediately."

If bullet casings are collected from a scene, the assistant chief said detectives will try to match them to other scenes and look for crime patterns in neighborhoods. All of this can help establish warrants and probable cause to make arrests.

"Whereas before the cases may not have risen to the level where there was just an immediate response — yes, they would have been investigated, yes, somebody may have gotten to the point — but we're getting to them quicker," Kovacsev said. 

The four-member team includes Detectives Jessica Bayly and Jose Gonzalez. 

"Before, our Major Crimes Unit was all in charge of the cases that we're doing now. I'm sure, as you can assume, they were pretty busy with what they had going on. So, now with our unit, we're able to kind of take a better look at all these cases and all of the people that are involved and kind of do a more in-depth investigation," Bayly said while driving to a city neighborhood where a home was hit with bullets early Tuesday.

"There were people sleeping inside of the residence when this happened," said Gonzalez. "They were very fortunate that they were not hit and/or their neighbors residing next to them. So, this could have went horribly wrong. Glad it didn't, but we really want to catch the individual responsible for committing this offense."

In the neighborhood, the detectives made note of surveillance cameras and spoke with a resident — something they said is key to piecing together what happened.

"These are the people who are living in this community that really need our help. So, us just going out here and talking to people I think helps us a lot in trying to solve these crimes and kind of bring the crime level down in these communities," Bayly said.

Gonzalez said they aim to build a solid case to do just that.

"The ultimate goal when we're investigating a shooting is to find the individual responsible. I wish we were 100% on that. It's just not going to happen," Gonzalez said. "If we can't necessarily close the case and make an arrest on the incident, to gather as much information as possible on the subject or the victims so should an offense happen again involving these same individuals, we're already ahead of the game."