CHARLOTTE, N.C. — We have a deeper look at where the city stands as far as crime is concerned following Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department's release of its third-quarter crime stats Wednesday.
While overall crimes through September were up 4%, including property crimes (7%), violent crime offenses reported went down almost 5% compared to 2021.
There were promising numbers from the second quarter. Both rapes and aggravated assaults were both down last quarter.
Unfortunately, homicides, robberies and burglaries were all on the rise. CMPD officials said they're concerned with the rise in violent crimes, particularly shootings that are being committed by younger offenders.
"We need active parents; CMPD needs the support, the participation and the partnership of active parents to negate this youth violence," Maj. Brian Foley said. "It's gonna happen, folks. You need to look at your kids' phones. You need to know who they're beefing with. You need to know where they're going to go fight."
Since the beginning of the year, at least 118 juveniles have been suspects of gun-related offenses. In addition, there have been at least 482 juvenile victims of gun-related crimes.
Maj. Ryan Butler said many of these crimes were connected to firearms.
"In 2021 with gun related crimes on the rise, CMPD merged three of our units with a history of success in addressing violent crime initiatives," Butler said.
The crime gun suppression team's mission is to target violent crime and repeat violent crime offenders. Butler said aggravated assaults involving firearms went down over 10% compared to last year.
Through September 2022, the team made 199 arrests and seized 193 firearms, including 23 stolen.
"While our crime gun suppression team and division staff are tremendous professionals we always need the community's help in solving crimes," Butler added.
Contact Richard DeVayne at rdevayne@wcnc.com and follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Contact Jane Monreal at jmonreal@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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