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University area hit hard by crime

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CHARLOTTE, N.C.-- When crime hits, it can traumatize a neighborhood. "So it was kind of disturbing and there was also some fear from the neighbors talking to the neighbors because they were concerned," says Cornelius Foster. Foster lives in the same University Area neighborhood where a homeowner shot at two burglary suspects; the same suspects who were involved in a carjacking in a Wal-Mart parking lot located off W.T. Harris Blvd. "A lot of people keep their porch light on now and be more watchful," says Foster.

The University Division has gotten more aggressive to deal with crime. Captain Freda Lester is excited about the progress so far, "We gained about 21 people starting in May of this year and once the new chief put his strategy in place we did see our crime continuously decline," says Lester.

Robberies showed the biggest drop. If you compare February of 2007 to 2008 hold ups jumped 380 percent. 10 months later by November robberies were still up but only by 28 percent. Police paid particular attention to the area around UNCC. "We want to increase that unit as well as our focused mission teams putting officers out there targeting our suspects who are continuously hitting us over and over again," says Captain Lester.

Police are hoping that they will be able to drive those robbery numbers into negative territory this year. One of the other successes in the district is car break ins which has declined by 10 percent.