SALISBURY, N.C. — The Salisbury Police Department is working to bring down their violent crime numbers. In the past few years, the city has seen a major decrease in homicides.
"We never give up on these victims," Lieutenant Greg Beam, the Salisbury Police Criminal Investigations Supervisor, said.
The department is always searching for clues and answers to cold cases from years past.
"We're still actively pursuing these cases, we haven't forgotten these cases and we will do everything we can to bring them closure," Beam said.
Salisbury Police are hoping closure could be a click away. The department is launching a new website featuring cold cases in the community dating back to 2002.
The goal is to provide the public with a way to see the faces and read a little bit about the times and places where victims lost their lives. They hope it will give people with information about a case a chance to come forward anonymously online.
"Everyone of them, there's somebody out there that knows something about these cases that could break them wide open," Beam said.
In 2016, there were a record 14 homicides in Salisbury. The next year, there were ten. In 2018, there were 6. So far this year, just 2.
Beam says a small number of people were committing the majority of the violent crimes in the city. So in 2018, the department of justice came in to help.
"They have the resources that we could never imagine having," Beam said.
Those resources put criminals away on federal charges and helped clear cases, freeing up time for detectives to focus on those cold cases.