New crime reduction effort underway in Danville

First of two neighborhood meetings held Thursday night

DANVILLE, Va. – Danville Police Chief Scott Booth is taking a new approach to combating crime in the city.

He has divided the city up into two sections, the north side and the south side.

An officer has been put in charge of overseeing each section.

On Thursday night, a meeting was held in the north side section so the two officers could introduce themselves to residents there.

Booth said having officers in charge of sections of the city is something that worked well when he was with the Richmond Police Department.

"We saw some tremendous crime reductions in the 2000s. Our homicides drastically decreased in the city of Richmond, and many other crimes. Property crimes and other violent crimes also went down," Booth explained. "It's really about keeping supervisors and officers focused on those community issues."

A meeting will be held in the south side section at 6:30 p.m. Friday at True Holiness Apostolic Church.