Safety push yields impressive gains

3.15.2009

University City is leading Charlotte in the fight over crime, new police stats reveal.
University City’s property and violent crime reports in January and February are 49 percent lower than last year, compared to 27 percent for Charlotte as a whole.
How did police bring about University City’s stunning drop in crime? By having more police officers, working with local businesses and targeting hardened criminals and crime hot spots, says University City Division Commander Capt. Freda Lester.
How can our community help police keep the bad guys at bay?
“Don’t let your guard down,” Lester advises. Keep calling 911 anytime something looks suspicious. “Just because you feel a little safer in university City doesn’t mean there aren’t people out there” looking to commit crimes.
Lester said improvement began last spring following a spike in crime around University City. “They (the command staff) realized after the first quarter that we were in trouble,” Lester said. “When they started giving us more people we started having luck.”
The University City Division now has 94 officers, 25 more than a year ago.
Having more officers has helped police respond more quickly to 911 calls. “Response times have gotten so quick (about 6 minutes for “crime in progress” calls), police can now even catch people in the act,” Lester said.
The additional manpower also has let police create teams to target specific crime problems. Much of University City’s property and violent crime has occurred in apartment-community parking lots near UNC Charlotte.
Lester said that one team now works with apartment managers on crime prevention.
When crime data showed a spike this January in personal robberies in apartment parking lots near campus, police quickly increased patrols, Lester said. Robberies fell from 15 (including 11 personal) in January to 3 in February.
Lester also credits a crackdown on Charlotte’s worst criminals for helping to reduce crime citywide. These repeat offenders target certain neighborhoods and commit many crimes, often while out on bond awaiting trial. Police have arrested more than 50 repeat offenders across Charlotte since last June.
More than 200 suspects out on bond now must wear electronic surveillance equipment that lets police monitor their movement. Lester said that the monitoring recently helped police link a repeat offender to a major crime, resulting in an arrest.

See the full crime report at:
http://www.charmeck.org/Departments/CMPD/Patrol+Divisions/University+City+Division/Home.htm


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