CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte-Mecklenburg police released their second quarter crime statistics Thursday morning, and expressed disappointment in the rise in crime across the city, specifically violent crime and property crime, which are both higher than they were at the same time last year.
Officers wanted to reassure the community that they're working hard to stop that trend.
Deputy Chief Jeff Estes and his fellow command staff spoke in University City Thursday, placing an emphasis on car break-ins and car thefts.
[ DOCUMENT: Full CMPD second-quarter crime stats ]
Estes said suspects in some case are breaking into 20 cars at a time, and they want residents to lock their vehicle doors and not to leave keys in cars.
As far as getting a handle on violent crimes, police said they hope to keep taking guns and violent offenders off the street.
CMPD reported 500 guns seized in the second quarter.
Estes said homicides are down by 7 percent, but percentage-wise, more remain unsolved than this time last year.
Highlights:
- 25 homicides - decrease of 7.4 percent
- 912 robberies - increase of 18.4 percent
- 144 rapes - increase of 2.9 percent
- 2,080 aggravated assault - increase of 25.5 percent
- 1,174 vehicle thefts - increase of 17.6 percent
- 103 arsons - decrease of 16.3 percent
- 5,418 larceny from autos - increase of 50 percent
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