Birmingham police have investigated 85 violent deaths so far in 2018 as the city faces the possibility of ending the year with one of its highest homicide counts since the 1990s.

If 28 more people die in homicides in Birmingham in the final three months of 2018, the Magic City will have its highest number of homicides since 1996, when 113 people died in acts of violence. In 2017, Birmingham police worked 33 homicides from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31.

Police are dedicated to keeping that from happening, implementing new policies to put a greater police presence on the street and examining crime trends to prevent murders.

"When I took over we reviewed our numbers and did an analysis ... to map out days, times and frequency of events to interrupt activity," said Birmingham Police Chief Patrick Smith, who was appointed chief earlier this year.

One way of interrupting crime, Smith said, is the "4/10" plan that has officers working 10 hours a day, four days a week to increase or even double the patrol force at certain times of the day. So far, Smith said, it has been effective.

"The pace of homicides has slowed, but we have to do more,'' Smith said. "Two weeks ago, the last precinct went to the 4/10 and we haven't had a weekend homicide in two weekends. We have to look at the small successes to measure what happens and measure the dosage of enforcement we deliver."

Smith said police also have instituted check points to disrupt activity and to remove guns and drugs from the city's streets.

"We have shown some success in these areas,'' Smith said. "Finally, we have focused our efforts on our high frequency offenders who are responsible for several serious crimes in the community. Coupled with working more with our federal partners to increase activity on our task forces to reduce crime."

Judging by the numbers, the new chief has a daunting task ahead of him.

In 2017, the city recorded a total of 111 homicides, an 88 percent increase from the 21st-century low of 59 in 2015. Last year was the first time in 11 years Birmingham had a triple digit homicide count.

Reflected against Birmingham's changing population numbers, the situation is even worse. The 111 homicides of 2017 - when the city's population was 212,157 - gave the city a per capita murder rate of 52.5. That was the worst per capita homicide rate in Birmingham since at least 1991, when 139 of the city's 269,313 residents were slain, giving the city a per capita murder rate of 51.6.

In the first nine months of 2018, there has been about a 10 percent rise in homicides compared to the same period a year ago.

'Keeping people alive, saving lives'

"We're up from where we were last year, which is something we're not pleased or happy with,'' said Birmingham homicide Lt. Scott Thurmond. "We had 99 criminal homicides last year, and we still could come in under. The last two weeks have been slower as far as the number of homicides and that's positive."

Of Birmingham's 84 homicides in the first nine months of the year, five have been ruled justifiable. The Birmingham Police Department does not include justifiable homicides in their year-end numbers or analysis, so their official count so far this year is 79.

Thurmond said the focus should be on what causes homicides rather than the numbers themselves. "Don't worry about the magic number,'' he said. "Keeping people alive and saving lives is what we're focused on."

Year Population Number of homicides Per capita rate 1985 281,973 97 34.4 1986 286,756 88 30.7 1987 282,171 84 29.8 1988 283,237 92 32.5 1989 278,011 100 36 1990 265,968 125 47 1991 269,313 139 51.6 1992 272,407 133 48.8 1993 268,768 121 45 1994 270,978 135 49.8 1995 270,728 121 44.7 1996 272,169 113 41.5 1997 275,236 108 39.2 1998 259,453 85 32.8 1999 254,171 78 30.7 2000 242,820 79 32.5 2001 243,762 73 29.9 2002 244,972 65 26.5 2003 240,176 85 35.4 2004 238,167 59 24.8 2005 234,571 104 44.3 2006 233,577 104 44.5 2007 227,686 86 37.8 2008 228,314 82 35.9 2009 227,373 65 28.6 2010 213,258 62 29.1 2011 213,258 57 26.7 2012 213,266 72 33.8 2013 212,001 66 31.1 2014 212,291 59 27.8 2015 212,291 92 43.3 2016 212,157 104 49 2017 212,157 111 52.3

A number of programs and initiatives have been put into place this year to help fight crime and improve the department's clearance rate in homicides. While experts say a homicide detective should work no more than five cases a year, Birmingham homicide detectives have worked double that caseload.

Chief Smith also has worked to beef up the homicide unit. More detectives have been added and a separate felony assault unit has been established so that homicide detectives only work death investigations. Also, the homicide and robbery units have been combined since many of the cases and suspects overlap. "There's a lot more information sharing,'' Thurmond said.

"As Mayor Woodfin has pointed out, the issue of violent crime goes beyond law enforcement. He is confident in Chief Smith's leadership and understands this is a comprehensive effort,'' said Rick Journey, Woodfin's communications director. "The city has engaged in conflict resolution with young people, launched a task force to help reduce the number of repeat offenders, committed to removing blight in our neighborhoods and enhanced the use of technology to assist in investigations. Violent crime is not something that happened over night and will take all of us working together to resolve."

'I have neighbors moving out'

Birmingham City Councilman Hunter Williams, chairman of the council's Public Safety Committee, said people should give the police chief an opportunity to implement his strategies and see what's working and what could be improved.

"Solving the problem of systemic violence in our communities is going to require major efforts on all levels of government. We also need to enlist the help of those living in the areas that are experiencing high levels of crime to report these issues when they see it,'' Williams said.

"Obviously, the violence we've seen throughout the city is very concerning to me and we all need to do what we can to support the efforts of the mayor and the new police chief as they move forward with their plans. That is my main priority as chair of the Public Safety committee. I support the efforts of increasing police presence in these affected areas."

Many residents have expressed concern about crime in their neighborhoods.

Earlier this year, west Birmingham's Belview Heights community was particularly hard hit by shootings and a couple of homicides in just of few months.

A man was shot and injured on 45th Street in early February while helping a friend move. A short time later, church deacon Ricky Parker was found shot to death behind his 46th Street home. Then, in March, Remus Scalf, 46, was killed and another man injured while they were renovating a house on 45th Street.

Sherry Lewis has lived in Belview Heights for 25 years and has been neighborhood president for the past two years. "Crime is worse unfortunately,'' Lewis said. "I have neighbors moving out, saying they can't take it anymore. I'm seeing the exodus and I'm concerned."

"We're poised to work with law enforcement, but we do want more patrols in the area. We don't see police patrolling, and engaging with the community,'' Lewis said. "We don't think they can stop all crime, but we do think they can do more to deter crime."

She said the number of people attending their neighborhood meetings continues to grow because of the crime concern. "We are doing more. People are installing cameras, we use the NextDoor app and we are calling each other,'' she said. "We believe we are the eyes and the ears for the police, but they have to listen to what we are saying."

"We need our city leaders to lead,'' she said, "and we are ready to follow."

'We're not going to give up.'

One of the primary challenges in solving crimes, Thurmond said, is the lack of willing witnesses. "We just need people to cooperate with us so we can reduce crime in the city of Birmingham,'' he said.

Police officials, however, are hopeful they will soon see a reversal in the upward trend of homicides and violent crime. In addition to more homicide detectives, they are now working with improved technology and increased partnerships with other law enforcement agencies.

Not only has the Jefferson County Metro Area Crime Center been a force-multiplier, but so too are the number of federal programs aimed at helping Birmingham fight crime.

An example is the Public Safety Partnership, a program started by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions designed to enhance the capacity of local law enforcement agencies to address violent crime in their communities. Birmingham was selected as one of the initial 12 locations to take part in the program, which reinforces the federal, state and local task force model as one of the most effective ways to reduce violent crime.

A four-day roundup carried out by Birmingham police, the U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force and the U.S. Attorney's Office in August led to the arrests of 29 people wanted on charges ranging from attempted murder to robbery and more. Multiple similar operations have been carried out countywide over the past nine months.

Thurmond said Birmingham police work with the U.S. Attorney's Office, the FBI, ATF, DEA and the U.S. Marshals more than ever.

"Those relationships have grown strong. Next year when we have this conversation, these numbers are going to be down,'' he said. "We didn't get into this overnight and we're not going to get out of it overnight. We're in for the long haul. We're not going to give up."

Smith agreed. "There's a lot of work to do," he said, "but we plan to ramp up our efforts to reduce crime and restore peace in the community."

Birmingham 2018 homicides: Jan. 1-Sept. 30, by the numbers:

Total: 84

Justifiable: 5

(All numbers below exclude justifiable homicides)

By precinct:

West: 39

North: 14

East: 14

South: 12

The deadliest months:

March, June and August (12 homicides each)

The deadliest days:

Friday and Saturday (14 homicides each)

The deadliest hours:

11 a.m. and 7 p.m. (28 homicides)

Victims, by race and gender:

Black males: 58

Black females: 12

White males: 4

White females: 4

Hispanic male: 1

Youngest and oldest victims:

The youngest victim was an unborn child. The oldest was 86. At least eight have been age 18 and under.

By known motive:

Argument: 12

Robbery: 9

Drug-related: 5

Burglary: 2

Accident: 2

Gang-related: 1

Victims' criminal history, education level and employment status:

Victims with criminal history, felony or misdemeanor: 52

Victims who graduated high school: 37

Victims with college degrees: 5

Victims still in school: 5

Victims who were employed: 7

Relationships between victims and suspects:

Acquaintances: 56

Domestic relationships: 6

Victims were innocent bystanders: 6

(Source: Birmingham Police Department)