The City of Charlotte and CMPD are making plans for a new survey of how residents perceive crime and public safety in Charlotte.
Since 2002, CMPD has conducted community surveys to gauge public perceptions on crime, safety, and the police department’s community involvement and overall performance. Charlotte City Council members will vote Monday on approving a contract with an Atlanta-based consultant,The Research and Evaluation Group, to conduct the neighborhood surveys for three years, at an annual cost of about $60,000.
The next survey would focus on six city corridors: Beatties Ford Road, Tuckasegee Road, North Tryon, I-85/Sugar Creek, Albemarle Road and Providence Road.
A similar survey in 2014 found that 87 percent of residents felt safe in the neighborhoods where they lived. 28 percent of residents cited violent crime – including assault, rape and robbery – as their top concern.
CMPD reported 42 homicides in 2014. That figure rose to 68 homicides in 2016, and jumped again last year to 85 homicides. Police department figures also showed a seven percent increase in rapes from 2014 to last year. There was a 36 percent surge in armed robberies, but the number of residential burglaries over the three-year period went down by 5.5 percent.
