While violent crime is down in Charlotte for the first part of the year, property crime is up by 10%. Charlotte Mecklenburg Police released those statistics Thursday. They say auto thefts are driving that increase.
Violent crime decreased by 6% for the first three months of this year compared to the same time last year. That includes drops in aggravated assaults, robberies and reported rapes. But property crimes rose, with auto thefts nearly doubling.
CMPD Major Luke Sell says a social media challenge on TikTok to steal certain models of Kias and Hyundais is fueling the trend. That describes more than half of the 1,468 cars stolen this year.
“What’s even more disturbing is that 95% of stolen Kia and Hyundai arrests are juveniles," Sell said. "Juveniles account for 62% of all auto theft arrests this year. That’s 152 juvenile arrests in just three months."
Burglaries are down slightly. As for homicides, there were 24 during the first three months of the year, compared to 19 during the same time last year. Crime overall rose 7%.
Here’s a look at crimes for the first quarter of 2023 compared to the same time period in 2022, according to CMPD:
- Violent crimes: 1,629 compared to 1,737 in 2022.
- Homicides: 24 compared to 19 in 2022.
- Reported rapes: 56 compared to 72 in 2022.
- Armed robberies: 308 compared to 325 in 2022.
- Property crimes: 8,030 compared to 7,289 in 2022.
- Residential burglaries: 404 compared to 465 in 2022.
- Commercial burglaries: 514 compared to 480 in 2022.
- Property thefts from automobiles: 2,306 compared to 2,232 in 2022.
- Vehicle thefts: 1,468 compared to 738 in 2022.
- Arsons: 30 compared to 31 in 2022.
