(The Center Square) – Over the past 10 years, arrests have been steadily decreasing in major North Carolina cities like Raleigh and Charlotte.
This comes as the cities, which are considered two of the 10 largest in the southeastern United States, see increased budgets and larger police forces.
Yet, while arrests are down, violent crime is increasing in the cities.
Sheriff Garry L. McFadden of Mecklenburg County, where the majority of Charlotte is located, said he is unsure why arrests have decreased, but he believes that police arresting policies play a role in that.
“Law enforcement agencies are now using more diversion programs and simply not arresting citizens for petty crimes instead they give them citations to appear in court,” McFadden told The Center Square. “This has proven to be helpful.”
In Charlotte, police physical arrests have decreased almost every year since 2014, from 23,018 to 14,571 in 2024, a 37% decrease.
There was a slight increase in the last few years, with the low point being in 2021 with 13,440 arrests, according to the city’s 2023 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report . That year was also the height of COVID-19 restrictions.
Yet, even though arrests are down, the need for police seems to be growing as the number of 911 calls in the city increased 18% from 1,061,000 in 2014 to 1,251,000 in 2024.
McFadden pointed to the rise in Charlotte’s population as playing a role in the increase in 911 calls.
“More people, more calls. It has been reported that 113 people move to Charlotte each day which equals to about 41,000 each year,” he said.
He also said that the city’s push for the citizens to “See something, Say Something” may have also caused an increase in calls for service.
Raleigh, the state's capital, has had even more drastic changes in the number of arrests. Physical arrests and citations have decreased 76% since 2014, decreasing every year since then.
While there were nearly 100,000 arrests in 2014, in 2023 there were only 24,180 physical arrests and citations. This is according to the city’s 2023 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report .
A lack of funding or decrease in officers can’t likely be pointed to as the cause for the decreases.
In fact, despite the trends in many other cities to cut the police force, Raleigh has had an increase in the number of police employees since 2014. In 2023, it had 908, slightly up from the 890 of 2014. A large portion of the city's budget is also spent on public safety, which includes police, fire and emergency communication.
In both cities, increases in the number of police on the ground and budgets actually seem to be playing a role in decreasing arrests.
Yet while arrests have decreased over the past 10 years, that doesn’t mean crime is no longer a major issue. On the contrary, in Raleigh homicides, rapes, motor vehicle thefts, and other crimes are up from 2014 . Other crimes like robberies, burglaries, and arson have decreased.
The upward trend in continuing this year, as the Major Cities Chiefs Association’s midyear Violent Crime Survey found that the Raleigh Police Department saw increases in both homicides and rapes from the first six months of last year to this year.
The Center Square was unable to reach the Wake County Sheriff, where Raleigh is located, for comment on these trends.
Crime continues to also increase in Charlotte this year when compared to last.
The Violent Crime Survey found that homicides, aggravated assaults, and robberies were all up for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department this year.
This increase has affected Charlotte's safety ranking nationally.
While nationally homicides are down nearly 20% in the 277 largest cities, Charlotte's 21% increase placed it 25th in the nation for the most violent cities, according to a list from Datalytics.
For law enforcement and politicians though, policies are key to decreasing crime.
McFadden said his priorities to make for a safer Mecklenburg County include “building better relationships with our community,” “addressing the fentanyl crisis,” and being more accountable and accessible for the community.
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