http://66.225.205.104/LM20091202.mp3
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police say so far this year crime is down 19 percent compared to this time last year. WFAE's Lisa Miller has more: The police department holds a press conference every month to update the year's crime statistics. Over the last year, the message has been pretty much the same: crime is down significantly. Deputy Chief Harold Medlock delivered this month's variation. "Our property crime overall decreased by more than 18 percent and our violent crimes decreased by 21 percent," said Medlock. "We've had year-to-date 51 homicides compared to 74 in the same period of 2008. That is a reduction of 31 percent." Such big drops in crime have prompted some neighborhood groups to question if the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department is classifying crime differently. Police Chief Rodney Monroe has said that's not the case and the department follows FBI guidelines. Medlock repeated the department's explanation for such dramatic drops in crime. "As we have shared over the past 15 months we attribute that to the re-organization that occurred here 15 months ago," said Medlock. "We put more police officers on the street. We have assigned response area commanders to 39 geographic areas. They have direct responsibility and accountability for that geography across the county." Rape is the only type of crime that increased so far this year. Reported rapes are up nearly 18 percent. The department has a theory for that increase. Medlock says, perhaps, better education in schools is helping to boost the number of rapes actually reported.