CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- There appear to be some connections between everyone staying home and current crime trends.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department released their crime stats for the first quarter of this year. Here are the big takeaways:
- Overall, crime in the first quarter is flat compared to the same time last year.
- Violent crime is up 4.7 percent.
- Property crime is down 1 percent.
- There's a been a spike in domestic violence. Particularly, in March it's up 18 percent.
There's another alarming finding from CMPD, especially at time when most people are at home. There's been a 14-percent increase in shootings into occupied property for the year which is an 80 percent increase for the month of March.
Gun seizures are also up. Officers have gotten 560 illegal guns off the street, which is 40 more than this time last year.
Deputy Chief Coerte Voorhees says they continue to see gun owners leaving their firearms in unlocked vehicles or not safely securing them inside the home which is concerning, especially at a time like now.
“That's one of the most frequent ways that some of these criminals get guns. We had 134 stolen from cars in the first quarter, 34 stolen from burglaries. If you have a gun in the home, make sure that it is secured, especially from your own family members,” he said.
Also from those first-quarter crime stats, there were 27 homicides in the first three months of the year compared to 28 in the first quarter of last year. Year to date, there have been 30 homicides.
