STEVE LYTTLE AND KYTJA WEIR- Charlotte-Mecklenburg police plan to take another step tonight in their fight against the rising tide of violent crime hitting Charlotte, this time tackling a spike in robberies.
Homicides have grabbed the city’s attention with an almost 50 percent rise this year, but the number of armed robberies is up by nearly the same rate.
In raw numbers, police have dealt with 2,916 robberies overall -- that includes those committed without weapons -- compared to 2,202 for the same period in 2004. That’s more than 9 muggings a day.
Earlier this year police formed a 12-officer unit to crack down on robberies. The number of arrests is already up 22 percent, they said.
Tonight, they plan to ask the City Council for $50,000 from criminal asset forfeitures to tackle the problem with something beyond old-fashioned police work: advertising.
They plan a campaign anchored with billboards featuring “wanted” suspects, which they said have been successful in cities such as Kansas City, Philadelphia and Cincinnati. They would also send out an electronic newsletter and hold community meetings, plus launch a “more comprehensive communications plan.”
But they said the problem goes beyond what they can do by passing out information and cracking down on the streets.
The biggest obstacle, they say, is what happens after the arrests.
“The district attorney’s office is overloaded,” said Charlotte-Mecklenburg Deputy Police Chief Dave Stephens. “They’re trying their best, but the workload is too much.”
Police say the majority of robberies are the work of a relatively small number of criminals.
Police appointed Capt. Harold Medlock of the Eastway Division to lead the special robbery unit. Since then, the team has made 194 arrests, Medlock said. Police believe those suspects were responsible for 2,161cases.
“When you see 194 people charged with 2,161 crimes, that tells you those people are very familiar with the process,” Stephens said. “It sends a message that if you’re arrested for robbery, your chances of going to jail are slim.”
Mecklenburg County District Attorney Peter Gilchrist agrees that his office has fewer prosecutors than other jurisdictions its size. But he told the Observer he wasn’t familiar with the specific cases police cited. He said his department takes armed robberies “very seriously.”
“If an armed robber is convicted,” he said, “that is a crime they are going to receive an active sentence on.”
City officials say they are stepping up pressure on state government to beef up the district attorney’s office in Mecklenburg County. Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory has said council will push Raleigh to help deal with the crime issue locally.
In the meantime, Capt. Paul Zinkann, who leads the robbery unit, said his detectives are riding with patrol officers in high-crime areas. They are also working with residents at apartment complexes -- the site of many robberies -- to prevent crime.
“The number of arrests is really up in the last few months,” Medlock said. “I think we’re starting to make these guys flinch a little.”
But as recently as Saturday, police said, a robbery attempt turned deadly. A 36-year-old man was fatally shot outside his northeast Charlotte apartment.
Overall Crime
Crime overall is relatively steady, according to the latest Charlotte-Mecklenburg police statistics, dropping 0.6 percent through the end of October compared with last year.
The decline comes mainly from a 2 percent drop in property crimes.
But at the same time, violent crime has risen 8.2 percent:
Police had investigated 83 homicides as of Sunday. That’s an increase of 48 percent over the same time last year. And it’s well over the total 60 homicides they investigated in all of 2004.
Armed robberies are up 46.5 percent through October, compared with the same time last year. Robberies overall rose 32.4 percent.
Charlotte Observer (http://www.charlotte.com/)