Why Should Delaware Care?
In 2025, Wilmington saw the lowest number of shooting incidents and victims in 20 years. The decrease in crime has pushed city officials to continue the effort and push for public safety initiatives in the city, including the creation of the Office of Community Safety.
One month after Mayor John Carney signed an executive order to establish the Office of Community Safety, the Wilmington City Council passed a measure to make the violence-prevention office permanent in its city code.
The office, which Carney created in early March, aims to coordinate violence prevention efforts between city departments and establish partnerships with community organizations.
The mayor’s office is supportive of the city council measure to codify the office, according to officials. Asked whether Carney planned to sign it into law, Caroline Klinger, Carney’s spokesperson, did not provide an answer, noting that it will be reviewed first.
Councilwoman Shané Darby, the ordinance’s sponsor, previously noted that council had pushed in prior years to create a similar violence-prevention office and that she supports the one established by Carney. She said the goal of her measure is to ensure it cannot be dismembered by future administrations.
“We know an executive order is temporary,” Darby said during a Wednesday press conference. “But codification is a commitment. It is permanent.”
Darby’s measure to codify the office passed unanimously during Thursday’s council meeting, with all 12 members present voting in favor. Councilman Nathan Field was absent.
The newly created Office of Community Safety was made as an effort to sustain the city’s progress in crime reduction, as Wilmington experienced the lowest number of shooting incidents and shooting victims in over two decades, according to the 2025 annual year-end crime report released in January by the Wilmington Police Department.
The new statistics also showed an overall 8% drop in murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, felony theft, and auto theft in 2025, over the previous year.
It was an encouraging development across Delaware, particularly after its largest city had suffered for years from high numbers of shootings. In 2017, the News Journal reported that kids in Wilmington were more likely to be shot than those in any other U.S. city during the previous years. A 2014 Newsweek story that examined that ranking, headlined “Murdertown, USA,” left a bruising impact on the city’s image for years.
So far this year, shootings have increased, but it is difficult to draw broad conclusions from such a short period. As of April 12, there have been 17 shootings and 25 shooting victims this year, according to the city’s CompStat statistics, which are updated every week. During the same period last year, there were 12 and 15, respectively.
Juvenile shooting incidents and victims also doubled. There have been six shootings and six victims compared to three incidents and three victims this time last year.
Earlier in Thursday’s meeting, a few residents shared their grievances about living in the city, calling for increased police presence and raising concerns about loitering, drug use, and speeding. One resident described her short time living in the city as “frightening.”
“We’ve all been talking about the violence in the community, as y’all heard tonight. It’s nonstop in certain neighborhoods and across the city of Wilmington. So this is needed.” Councilwoman Zanthia Oliver said before voting in favor of the measure.
Office will expand upon pilot program work
The city’s Office of Community Safety will consist of one director who will lead the office. The director will be appointed by the mayor and will report to him directly.
The new director position requires about $45,000, which City Council already approved through a budget amendment for the city’s operating budget last month. The office will also have a consultant, and additional staff may possibly be added in the future, according to Walker.
It will cost the city $183,720 to run the office annually, according to the ordinance.
The office will be in charge of supporting community-based groups, creating policy around public safety, facilitating coordination among different city departments, including WPD and the city’s fire department, and helping manage partnerships and grant funding related to public safety programs, according to the executive order, which was signed on March 2.
When Darby first proposed her ordinance days after Carney’s executive order, her original measure would have given the council some authority over how the office was governed, changing the setup from what Carney created.
Her original measure contained stipulations that would have required the director of the office to be confirmed by City Council, created a nine-member advisory board to oversee the office, and required the office to create an annual report to the mayor and council.
Carney’s executive order did not require such conditions.
Darby and officials from the mayor’s office then collaborated on the legislation after it was introduced, according to Carney’s deputy chief of staff, Daniel Walker, and after those discussions, the advisory board and requirement for the council to confirm the office’s director were removed from her updated legislation.
Walker said there was initial confusion over whether the council approves any positions in the mayor’s office. He clarified that approval is only required for the city solicitor and city auditor, who have charter-mandated duties to both council and the mayor’s office.
Both Walker and Darby also said the proposed advisory board would have been redundant, as community-based organizations will already be providing input on what’s happening in the city.
“I think in future conversations, we can talk about what that may look like to have the community more involved, and also to make sure our city council is a part of this conversation, because we have been talking about establishing an office since I’ve been on council, and prior to me,” Darby told Spotlight Delaware.
Darby, Walker and Councilwoman Yolanda McCoy said that the office will further the work of previous violence-prevention efforts like the city’s Community Public Safety Initiative, which was created by city council in 2022 as a pilot program after the council sought to examine different approaches to community‑centered public safety.
Darby said the initiative funded local organizations already doing violence-prevention work and created the Wilmington Street Team, a group composed of non-profits to decrease violence, gather statistics, and identify trends within the city.
CPSI was funded through the American Rescue Plan Act, but Darby asserted that those funds are running out.
Walker said the original pilot focused primarily on Wilmington’s East Side, while the new office will shift the CPSI strategy to a citywide approach, targeting high-crime “hotspots” with city resources.
The Mayor’s office is currently reviewing applications for the director role, and after one has been selected, the office will officially begin its work, according to Walker.
