WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — After three shootings Tuesday and a standoff in the city the next day, Winston-Salem leaders said the crime is a concerning trend.
"We hopefully need to get control of this," Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines said.
Winston-Salem police responded to three separate shootings in the span of three hours Tuesday. In each case, police said they expect the victims to survive, but no arrests have been made at this time.
WFMY News 2 wanted to get questions about crime answered, and just minutes after talking with the mayor about Tuesday's incidents, a standoff was unfolding just minutes away.
Mayor Joines said there are measures currently being rolled out that he hopes will have a positive impact on the city.
"The gunshot detection system, we've got a violent crimes task force as more cooperation and collaboration with the sheriff and other law enforcement agencies," Joines said.
He said the violent crimes task force was implemented about a year ago.
The gunshot detection system will likely roll out this summer.
"I think we need to give some of those measures time to play out," Joines said.
"A lot of these people involved in some of the shootings are getting younger and younger," said Lt. Amy Gauldin with Winston-Salem Police Department's Criminal Investigation Division.
Winston-Salem police also have a real-time crime center they plan on expanding later this year.
Real-time crime center has been a game-changer for us," she said.
It's a hub of information where the police department can keep track of surveillance camera locations and incidents in the community.
"The real-time crime center has been a game-changer for us we're only in phase one of implementation of the real-time crime center," Gauldin said.
Lt. Gauldin said the police department has a strong partnership with ATF. They also implemented a Violent Firearms Investigations Team in 2019 which they've added additional resources to since it first started.
Gauldin said the police department is implementing a shot spotter, a gunshot detection system, to help locate the sound of gunshots that may otherwise go unreported.
She hopes with the help of that and the other measures the department is putting in place will help curb crime in the city.
"Hopefully by December of 2021 our full-scale real-time crime center will be up and running and with that we hope to add additional technology," she said, "So, we can work with the community and keep them safer faster."