NC builds new statewide system to help police

NORTH CAROLINA — North Carolina is building a new statewide system to let police departments compare cases and share information.

Garland and Daphine Rhyne have lived on West Davidson Street for more than half a century.

They said lately they worry because of break-ins at their neighbor's homes.

"You don't ever know when somebody is going to come in on you," said Daphine.

They like the idea of Gastonia police moving to a new crime reporting system designed to make it easier to catch criminals.

"As much goes on around here we need it," said Daphine.

All departments across the state are supposed to move to this new system by January 2014.

It will allow officers to view reports from anywhere in the state.

Gastonia Police are making the change a year early so officers can get used to the system.

They warn crime statistics won't look good at first.

"What you are going to see is a slight rise in crime," said Sgt. Jimmy Arndt.

The current reporting system here uses the "hierarchy of crime," which means if one person in one incident is accused of murder, robbery, and kidnapping, they can be charged with all three crimes, but the report will only reflect the most serious crime of murder.

That will change on Jan. 1. With the new system the report would reflect all three crimes.

"It's going to be a more accurate count of how many crimes occur," said Arndt.

Gastonia police also hope it will make it easier to solve those crimes.

"We'll be able check neighboring community's break-ins to see if anything matches up so if we've got the same offender doing things in different jurisdictions," said Arndt.

They Rhynes hope the system will help them catch the crooks that have been breaking into their neighbors' homes.

WSOC