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CMPD chief outlines SAFE Charlotte Initiatives, but some City Council members want more

CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings addresses City Council Monday.
City of Charlotte
CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings addresses City Council Monday.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Johnny Jennings on Monday discussed with City Council the department’s SAFE Charlotte initiatives, which include shifting low-risk traffic accident investigations to new civilian investigators.

Jennings talked about ways CMPD is tracking officers' use of force, and a new team that pairs mental health professionals with officers when responding to some emergency calls.

The discussion dovetailed with last week’s city presentation on improving public safety through "quality of life" issues, such as clearing debris-filled empty lots and stopping people from illegally parking vehicles in bike lanes.

Council members were generally supportive and praised Jennings. Tiawana Brown said the department was reimagining public safety. And Mayor Vi Lyles said fighting crime will require collaboration with other governments and nonprofits.

But some council members wanted more. Dimple Ajmera suggested the city set concrete goals for reducing homicides from the 110 killings last year. The city averaged 106 killings a year from 2020 to 2024. From 2010 to 2014, Charlotte averaged 53 killings a year.

And Ed Driggs said the city has been working on SAFE Charlotte initiatives for a long time, but hasn’t seen progress in reducing violent crime.

“We have been talking about sort of dramatic initiatives like SAFE Charlotte and so on for four years,” he said. “And we can’t point to big successes.”

CMPD is set to talk about violent crime more next month.

A version of this news analysis originally appeared in the Inside Politics newsletter, out Fridays. Sign up here to get it first to your inbox.

Steve Harrison is WFAE's politics and government reporter. Prior to joining WFAE, Steve worked at the Charlotte Observer, where he started on the business desk, then covered politics extensively as the Observer’s lead city government reporter. Steve also spent 10 years with the Miami Herald. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, the Sporting News and Sports Illustrated.