Charlotte crime rate spikes 12 percent in first quarter of 2012 | Crime

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - With Charlotte set to walk into the national spotlight in just 5 months, the city reported Wednesday that crime in the first quarter of 2012 has increased 12 percent, a spike that reverses a year of decreasing crime rates.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department released the crime statistics at a press conference Wednesday morning.

Twelve homicides were reported through March, compared to six in 2011 during the same time period, resulting in a 100 percent increase.

Property crime increased by 10.4 percent while violent crimes were up by 23 percent.

The crime stats broke down as follows:

• 12 homicides were reported through March, compared to 6, resulting in an increase of 100.0%.
• 411 robberies were reported compared to 292, resulting in an increase of 40.8%
• 52 rapes were reported compared to 46, resulting in an increase of 13.0%.
• 733 aggravated assaults were reported compared to 638, resulting in an increase of 14.9%.
• Burglary overall was up 5.5%, (1759 compared to 1667) with a increase of 8.3% in residential (1421 compared to 1312) and a decrease of -4.8% in commercial cases (338 compared to 355).
• 397 vehicle thefts were reported compared to 450, resulting in a decrease of -11.8%.
• Total larceny cases increased by 14.6% (5226 compared to 4562) with the larcenies from auto up by 9.6% (1908 compared to 1741).
• 45 arson cases were reported compared to 48, resulting in a decrease of -6.3%.

CMPD says it is not sure why the crime has increased.

"It does concern me, because you think about your safety at the same time as others," said Arien Conner, a Charlotte resident.

Conner lives in the Delta crossing apartment complex in East Charlotte.

Despite the crime increase in Charlotte, the area has seen a decrease.

Police urged the apartment complexes to clean up and help keep out the riff raff.

Now, calls for service are down 80 percent.

"The apartment is really nice inside, I just felt like it would be safe living here," said Conner.

The improvements bring the Hickory Grove division to number 1 in crime prevention, last year it was number 13.

Police plan to use the same strategies in other areas.

But the new crime stats are not encouraging.

Division detectives are meeting weekly to restrategize their crime-fighting techniques.

More patrols are already on the streets.

CMPD says the key is to identify violent offenders before they can strike again. 

"As we do that work I think we'll see those numbers become lower because we're identifying those offenders who have a tendency to become violent," said Major Doug Gallant of the CMPD.