Chief Monroe praises UCP public-safety efforts

11.25.2008

The best way to fight crime is through communities like yours, members of the University City Partners public-safety committee heard recently from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Rodney Monroe.
“You fulfill your role just by organizing. It lets you tell us what your priorities are and allows us to align our priorities to that.”
Monroe, who became police chief in June, stressed that the keys to successful crime fighting are to prevent crime from happening in the first place, working with local communities to identify their biggest problems, and aggressively pursuing – and prosecuting - the most active criminals.
“It does no good to arrest people 10-15 times and then let them out,” Chief Monroe told the group. “People need to be fearful of the criminal justice system, and right now I don’t believe they are.”
Monroe shared his philosophy of crime fighting as well as some specific actions at the committee’s November meeting at the Oasis Shrine Temple in University Place. The meeting drew business representatives and residents from University City’s municipal service district, as well as Capt. Freda Lester, who commands the University City Division, and several officers.
Monroe said that Charlotte needs far more police officers on the street. He said he plans to create two more police divisions to serve fast-growing northern and southern Mecklenburg Counties.
Monroe said it could take three years to find and train the 200 additional officers those divisions will require.
Among other strategies outlined by Monroe:
1. HIGHER VISIBILITY - Fight the community’s fear of crime by making police more visible – both by increasing the number of police on patrol and by allowing many of them to take patrol cars home at night, so long as they live in Mecklenburg County. “When people see police, fear drops,” Monroe said.
2. COMMUNITY PROSECUTION - Focus on what he calls community prosecution – where police and the district attorney work with various sections of Charlotte to identify their biggest crime problems, then attack that area and get criminals in jail. “It’s not just us aligning our priorities to the numbers, but to what you see,” Monroe said.
3. TARGET THE WORST OFFENDERS – One study last spring found that police had arrested eight people who together were responsible for more than 230 burglaries and auto thefts. Police need to watch repeat offenders every day “and snag them if we can,” Monroe said.

HOLIDAY SAFETY PUSH

Property crimes tend to spike during the Christmas holiday season. Monroe said the police will strive for greater visibility this year and make better use of private crime-fighting efforts.
For instance, he said, several downtown businesses now allow the police to monitor their private video security cameras 8-10 hours a day. He wants to expand this to suburban shopping centers.
“If we can see more – or at least have people believe we are watching more,” the police can reduce crime, Monroe said. “All you have to do is arrest one person, and the word gets out that this center is hot.”
Police will scour daily reports for any spikes and go after them quickly, Miller said.
Timely information will also help, he said. Police and businesses need to share information about crime quickly with one another and with customers.


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