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Homicides are on the rise in Charlotte. A look at why and efforts to curtail the trend

MAX PIXEL

Homicides are up in Charlotte. Last year, 110 people were killed in Charlotte, up from 89 in 2023. It's the highest number since 2020 and the second highest since at least 2009.

The city is bucking national trends, too. Across 85 cities, homicides dropped for the third straight year, down 17% since 2023. Other cities in North Carolina have been a mixed bag. Last year, Greensboro saw a 42% drop in homicides. Raleigh and Durham haven't released their year-end homicide counts, however, both cities saw an increase in the first half of 2024 over the same six-month period the year before.

This comes as police departments across the country have struggled to recruit and retain officers. As of November 2024, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police had 300 vacancies, about 15% of its workforce. Dan Redford, president of Charlotte's Fraternal Order of Police, said the profession took a major morale hit following the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement of 2020.

2024 was also a deadly year for law enforcement in Charlotte, after the April 29 killing of a CMPD police officer, a deputy U.S. Marshal, and two officers with the state Department of Adult Correction by a man in east Charlotte.

On the next Charlotte Talks, we look at the increase in homicides in Charlotte and the communities most impacted.

GUESTS:

Roosevelt Brooks, Youth Advocate Programs' Alternatives to Violence site supervisor for the Beatties Ford Road Alternatives to Violence (ATV) team.
Donnell Gardner, Youth Advocate Programs’ Alternatives to Violence program manager
Malcolm Graham, Charlotte city council member
Steve Harrison, WFAE political reporter
Dan Redford, president at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Fraternal Order of Police

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Jeanne previously worked at NPR member station WUGA in Athens, Ga., where she graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in journalism. Jeanne grew up outside of Atlanta.