CMPD looks to crack down on 'street takeovers'

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police are trying to stop a dangerous trend known as "street takeovers." The department says they are working to limit these types of incidents, which can involve hundreds of cars speeding, blocking and doing illegal tricks on local roads.

The latest street takeover happened at about 3 a.m. Sunday outside the NASCAR Hall of Fame uptown.

Police said two dozen such takeovers have happened this month, mostly at night. Some involved hundreds of cars and large groups of people watching.

In case you haven’t seen a street takeover, CMPD Capt. Steve Fischbach explained Monday: “A street takeover is where a number of vehicles line up and block a roadway for the purposes of competitive speeding, doing burnouts or donuts.

CMPD says officers have launched a special operation against the street racers in an effort to eliminate reckless and aggressive driving in the city. CMPD Maj. David Johnson says stopping street takeovers is a priority.

“Officers have written 54 citations in relation to this type of activity,” Johnson said. “We've made five arrests and we have total seized or taken into custody as evidence 12 separate vehicles. Now, these 12 vehicles represent a major jump in enforcement, with the majority of these coming in just the past few weeks as we've seen this activity escalate.”

But officials said CMPD policy doesn’t permit chasing drivers involved in takeovers. And CMPD says adults aren’t the only ones involved.

"It's very frustrating these folks, some of them are even juveniles we know that are organizing this,” said Johnson. “And ultimately those (organizers) are the ones that we want to target with charges. So as we're identifying folks that are participating, folks that are there spectating, ultimately, our ultimate goal is to cut the head off the snake and get the people that are organizing this.”