Mayor Vi Lyles promised to lessen crime rates | Stock Photo
Mayor Vi Lyles promised to lessen crime rates | Stock Photo
Mayor Vi Lyles promised the Charlotte City Council that she would lessen violent crime in the city when she was sworn in for her second term late last year. The data presented by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) showed which neighborhoods were dealing with the highest crime rates, and what the department was already doing to fight the issue.
A violent crime interruption coalition in St. Louis, Missouri appears to be a potential solution in Charlotte.
The program includes training and hiring community members to de-escalate situations before violence occurs. In St. Louis, this model was approved and individuals are being hired to work in the program.
"We cannot do it ourselves, law enforcement, policing, CMPD -- we cannot do this ourselves,” WCNC quotes Deputy Chief Gerald Smith at the city council in early January.
The program has had some success in New Orleans, Louisiana since its start in 2018.
For the third year in a row, the total number of murders in New Orleans is declining, and last year there was a 50-year low in homicide with 27 fewer murders in 2019 (119 total) compared to 146 in 2018.
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