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CMPD mid-year review shows overall crime up 4%

Major Brian Foley addressed reporters during CMPD's mid-year crime report.
Sarah Delia
/
WFAE
Major Brian Foley addressed reporters during CMPD's mid-year crime report.

The Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department gave its mid-year crime report Thursday.

Overall crime is up 4% compared to this time last year. And a big part of that is property crime — burglaries for example have increased by 23%. CMPD Major Brian Foley says part of what’s contributing to that rise, is workers returning to the office, leaving homes unattended.

"The criminals who are also working recognize that, so they understand fewer people at home, 'I can take advantage of that opportunity and go and break into a house,'" Foley said.

Since the start of the year at least 500 firearms have been stolen from cars in Charlotte. Foley says some of those weapons are ending up in the hands of teens — who are either taking guns from home that are not properly locked up or from inside cars. Vehicle thefts are up 10%.

"So you got a 14 or 15-year-old kid hops in this car now not only do they have a car, they have a firearm, think about that," Foley said.

Homicides are also up 8%. And assaults with a firearm have risen more than 25% in Charlotte over a 5-year average.

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Sarah Delia is a Senior Producer for Charlotte Talks with Mike Collins. Sarah joined the WFAE news team in 2014. An Edward R. Murrow Award-winning journalist, Sarah has lived and told stories from Maine, New York, Indiana, Alabama, Virginia and North Carolina. Sarah received her B.A. in English and Art history from James Madison University, where she began her broadcast career at college radio station WXJM. Sarah has interned and worked at NPR in Washington DC, interned and freelanced for WNYC, and attended the Salt Institute for Radio Documentary Studies.