CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department released its third quarter crime statistics indicating that overall crime is up 5% from this time last year.
- Around 3,500 aggravated assaults were reported in the third quarter
- Arrests from violent crimes also saw an uptick in repeat offenders
- Chief Kerr Putney says he still plans on retiring in January
Additionally, violent crime is up a little more than 11%. Those violent crimes include 81 homicides compared to 42 this time last year, that's an increase of almost 93%.
Around 3,500 aggravated assaults were reported in the third quarter, almost 9% more than this time last year.
Arrests from violent crimes also saw an uptick in repeat offenders, but Chief Kerr Putney says that is a problem starting in the court system and not in the police department's control.
“What I can tell you, we control everything that relates to our attack on crime, our fighting of crime, and you heard consistently those measures are up," he said.
One bit of good news in these statistics is that officer complaints were down 18% and more than 1,500 illegal guns were removed from the community.
Chief Putney also opened up the room to questions about his retirement. The city's retirement timeline for him was that he would retire January 1, take two months off, return to the job to lead the department during the Republican National Convention, and then fully retire after.
That timeline he says isn't allowed because employees aren't supposed to have an agreement to return to work before they retire. He says he's worked for the force for 30 years and that he earned his retirement so he is going to take it.
“Right now, my plan is to retire and we’ll see what happens there. I’m not changing my plans at all. I’m moving forward and we’ll see what happens when the attorneys have their say and then I’ll re-adjust,” he said.
When asked if there were any other officers in the department who have retired like this and been hired back, he said he didn’t know the specifics here, but that it was a common practice across the state.
