City of Tucson seeing significant increase in youth committing violent crimes

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TUCSON, Arizona (KOLD News 13) – The number of murders in the city of Tucson continues to rise, but violent crimes among youth are also rising sharply.

This year, Tucson police expect to top the highest number of murders the city has ever seen.

To date, the TPD has registered 57 homicides. That’s 34 at the time last year.

But what officials say is more worrying how many teenagers become both suspects and victims.

“When we talk about the number of juvenile victims as well as juvenile offenders, I would like to say that there has been a significant increase in recent years,” says Lt. Corey Doggett of the TPD Violent Crime Unit.

It is a trend that we are observing nationwide. The highest homicides in the city of Tucson came in 2009 at 74, and the department expects to top that number this year.

But there are many questions as to why this is happening. The police don’t have a definitive answer, but Lt. Doggett says that children hanging out in groups play a big role as they are easily influenced.

“This grouping leads to a lot of these arguments. Not in any case now. Sometimes we are unable to connect a large group, sometimes it is individuals who quarrel with, or there has been an argument. But it’s more of a common trend among teenagers in particular that they feed on one another, ”says Doggett.

A statement from the nonprofit group Homicide Survivors said: “At HSI, we are concerned about the worrying increase in violent crime in our area. Nobody deserves to endure the murder of a loved one … That’s why we teamed up with TPD and embedded a lawyer in their office to help their detectives work with families. “

So how quickly can things be changed? Lt. Doggett says it will take time, but TPD relies heavily on the community.

“If we can get the younger kids not to get into this group, violent gangs, if you will, these organizations – if you can keep them from taking up arms, being in different places and engaging in physical fights finding things like that again, I think it would probably reduce homicides because we find that people there react to some kind of stimulus and react with a gun, “says Doggett.

Police also say things like having a safe place to transact with people you’ve met online and just knowing who your kids are with and what they’re doing could be keys to reducing these violent crimes.

Copyright 2021 KOLD News 13. All rights reserved.

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