The Public Safety Committee of the Winston-Salem City Council met on August 10, 2026, at 2:00 PM, chaired by Council Member Annette Scippio. Chair Scippio opened the meeting by thanking the Police Department for its work during the Black Theatre Festival. The committee unanimously approved the consent agenda and received updates on a Fire Department SUV response program and a quarterly police public safety report.
G-1: Fire Department SUV Response Program Update Assistant Fire Chief Andrew Gray presented the pilot program, which ran from April 10 to July 16, 2026, in the areas served by Stations 1 and 4. Using overtime funding, a two-person crew (fire engineer and firefighter) in a SUV responded to lower-priority medical calls and lift assists. During the pilot, Squad One handled 762 incidents, improving the availability of heavy fire apparatus by 48%. This allowed fire engines and ladder trucks to remain available for 17 fire incidents, two motor vehicle crashes, overdose calls, and cardiac arrests. The program was suspended on July 16 to conserve overtime funds for the rest of the fiscal year. The department may restart it later if funds allow, and is exploring expansion to other areas (e.g., the Hanes Mall area). Firefighters have expressed support for the program.
G-2: Winston-Salem Police Department Public Safety Report Chief William Penn reported that violent crimes (homicides, rapes, robbery, aggravated assaults) and property crimes (burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft) are all down compared to 2025. Total crime is down 13.4%. The department expects to seize close to 1,500 firearms in 2026. Regarding the juvenile curfew ordinance (enacted June 22, 2026), Chief Penn provided data: since the curfew took effect, there have been 26 juvenile offenders and 2 victims contacted under the ordinance, and two parents were charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor. No team takeovers have occurred since the ordinance. Youth shooting victims (bullet-to-skin) fell from 36 in the same period last year to 14 this year. Chief Penn noted that other cities (Greensboro, Raleigh, Charlotte, Fayetteville, Burlington) have reached out to Winston-Salem about its curfew. He indicated the department will propose making the ordinance permanent. In response to questions, Chief Penn clarified that the city does not use Flock cameras and that most seized firearms are held due to state law prohibiting destruction of working guns.
City Manager Pate commended the Fire and Police departments for innovative approaches. He noted that EMS response is a county responsibility, but the city’s fire department is supplementing those responses due to community expectations.
You're watching WSTV Digital Media. Good afternoon. And welcome to our August Public Safety Committee meeting. Welcome back to all of our council members from our little July break that was just too brief. And uh I hope you all got a little bit of rest. Um, and thank you to our Winston's Hill and PD and our Winston's Hill and Fire Department for all of the wonderful work you did this July. Uh particularly the Black Theater Festival that was absolutely a great week in the city, and I heard nothing but comments that were positive from all of the many visitors who came from almost every state and also across the water. It was amazing to take time and to be there, but importantly to see our officers on the streets. Oh, I'm gonna move to Winston Salem. They really have police everywhere. I feel so safe. I said, Yes, please do. We have police all over. But it was a wonderful week. And so thank you for Pete for all the service you gave and for our firemen. You're not always as visible doing the festival, but I know you were right there. And uh also for emergency management who had to come to duty. So having that kind of resources that come and take care of it. We're such a blessed city. So I thank you all. And uh we have three uh items on the consent agenda that pertain to the North Carolina Governor's Highway Safety Program. Just give us a little overview about this granting program. Okay, good afternoon. Again, it's good to see everybody. Hope y'all enjoyed your July. So we'll talk about three grants that the police department is being offered and awarded. One grant is new. That is our speed enforcement grant. That grant will cover 40 hours a month for four to six officers to focus on traffic enforcement. The strategic focus area this will affect is our livable community. So it will be focused on speed enforcement, but we'll also focus on uh seat belts and child restraint systems as well in that, and there is no match to the city on that. That is fully funded by the governor's highway safety program. And our next grant will be for our bike safe initiative. That is year seven for this grant. So this is not a new grant. What we do with that is our traffic enforcement unit who rides the motorcycles. I do a great job in the city for our escorts and other traffic initiatives. We have a bike safe coordinator. It is for actual motorcycles, so not bicycles as motorcycles. Again, this is year seven. What it does is teach new or inexperienced riders some uh trades to ride safely, and we hold those throughout the year several times a year. We post those online and through social media when we hold those again. Uh that costs the city that is a fully funded grant, so there's no match on that grant either. And the last one, uh, this one is year 17. It's our DWI task force, it's a countywide task force. Two Winston Salem officers are on that task force, and their focus is driving while impaired investigations, whether it be by alcohol or any other impairing substances, and we have seen those other impairing substances rise compared to alcohol. Now, this is uh the governor highway safety programs covers 25 percent, and the city will pay uh the 75 percent match of salaries for those two officers, which will be 64,125 a year. If I have a road I'd like for you to check for speeding, do I just send the note over? You can send that to uh assist the city manager rightly, she'll get it to us. We'll be okay.