CHARLOTTE, N.C. — CMPD put out its third-quarter public safety report Wednesday, and the numbers backed up the notion that crime is up in Charlotte. Overall crime is up 5% so far this year, violent crimes even more so.
Police admit it's been a tough year but say they're working hard, pointing to the number of violent re-offenders they've arrested so far this year.
"Violent crime, which is on everybody’s mind, is up 11%," Deputy Chief Gerald Smith said. "Specifically, with violent crime, people are concerned about the murder rate.”
There have been 85 homicides so far this year.
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CMPD has found 13 of those homicides were over drugs, 10 were domestic violence situations and 24 were arguments that escalated between people who knew one another.
The number of arrests has also gone up 5%. Police have removed more than 1,500 guns from the community and deescalated situations with armed people nearly 8,000 times.
"Officers are getting after it," Smith said. "They're getting people and they're locking up the right people."
More repeat violent offenders have been arrested, too. Chief Kerr Putney is frustrated they're out on the streets as it is, alluding that judges are part of the problem.
“Equal accountability throughout the whole system is what we need," Putney said. "Because what we're seeing is people will re-offend when they think they can get away with it and unfortunately that’s our jurisdiction."
Police are confident they will turn this around, they say their community partners will help with that, but that they could always use more assistance.