JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – After years of concerning homicide totals, Jacksonville is seeing a markedly different trend in 2026, with the city on pace to record its fewest homicides in years at the halfway point of the year, according to News4JAX data.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office had investigated 27 homicides to date in 2026, nearly half the 48 cases recorded by this time last year, the data show.
Sheriff T.K. Waters said the decline suggests the agency’s crime-reduction strategies are working. “I like to believe that our community sees the genuine care that we have for the city, the answering of questions when they have questions, and actually responding to the issues that we hear,” Waters said.
Waters credited the recent drop to several efforts, including community problem response teams, group violence initiatives and gang-violence reduction strategies.
Community leaders working alongside law enforcement pointed to changes in how the city addresses gang activity. Pastor Korey O’Neal, director of Jacksonville’s RISE Program, said controlling gang violence has been a major factor in the falling homicide numbers.
“I must say getting a gang problem under control here in Jacksonville has played a huge part in murder rate dropping,” O’Neal said.
O’Neal said the program works with the sheriff’s office gang unit to identify suspected gang members through social media and then conduct outreach including in-person visits offering alternatives to a lifestyle he said often leads to violence and crime. “We see you on social media, we’ve seen you making posts. We know, but we’ve brought help to you today,” O’Neal said, describing the message delivered during those visits.
O’Neal said services offered include mentorship, mental health support and employment opportunities, calling the work one piece of a broader effort to make the city safer. “I believe it’s getting better,” he said, adding that improving relationships between police and the community will take “a collective effort.”
Despite the drop in homicides, Waters also addressed police-involved shootings this year, citing 11 incidents so far in 2026. He said more cases involve people pulling knives or guns, and six of the shootings have been deadly.