‘We’re doing some fantastic work’: CMPD chief hopeful about turning crime trend around

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Chief Kerr Putney is asking for more help after 2019 saw a massive spike in homicides.

Putney spoke Friday morning about the rise in crime in uptown and said it will take everyone in the city to help turn things around.

The statistics from 2019 were not good, and Putney didn’t dodge them, but at the same time he laid out some of the positive things that police did last year in making his case for the fact that they can’t turn the numbers around by themselves.

[ALSO READ: CMPD crime reduction units restructure priorities during violent year]

Overall, crime was up 6% in 2019. Violent crime was up by twice that at 12%, and homicides were up by 90%.

But the chief also pointed out that they actually arrested 6% more people last year than in 2018 and made 19% more arrests in violent crimes.

He also said they took 13% more illegal guns off Charlotte’s streets.

[ALSO READ: ‘It’s been a tough year’: CMPD’s quarterly stats show increase in violent crime]

Putney spoke in the CMPD command center. He invited city leaders and a lot of the people in the community who have worked with police over the last several years to be there.

He thanked them for what they have done, and at the same time said it will take even more to turn those numbers around in 2020.

“What I say is, ‘What are you going to do in 2020?’ I think we’re doing some fantastic work that is going to pay dividends five and 10 years down the road,” he said.

>> Watch the video at the top of this webpage for reporter Mark Becker’s full story on the crime statistics.

'It's been a tough year': CMPD's quarterly stats show increase in violent crime 'It's been a tough year': CMPD's quarterly stats show increase in violent crime

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