The murder rate across Bay Area cities has risen in the last two years, reflecting national trends. But, when a homicide happens in the city of Richmond, the chances that the assailant will be arrested are pretty low. In fact, the city has the second lowest clearance rates for homicides in the state of California. Why is that? And what’s being done about it?
The San Francisco Chronicle assigned a team including data and investigative reporter Joaquin Palomino to examine those questions. He sat down in studio with KALW’s Ben Trefny to share some answers, beginning with what he found when he looked at information from the Department of Justice.
PALOMINO: There still is a distrust of the police. There still is this reluctance to help with investigations because people either fear that the cops won't be able to protect them, or they do not want to cooperate with law enforcement.
Read the article, "In Richmond, high number of homicides go unsolved," in the San Francisco Chronicle here.
