CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte leaders are looking at several solutions to fight violent crime that has plagued the city. One solution is already underway in other cities and it seems to be working.
When Mayor Vi Lyles was sworn in for her second term at the end of 2019, she promised council would work towards creating a safer city.
She asked for a data-driven approach, figuring out which neighborhoods were hardest hit, and what CMPD was already doing.
When the numbers were presented and area hot-spots were established, CMPD noted a violent crime interruption coalition that was underway in St. Louis that could work in Charlotte.
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"We cannot do it ourselves, law enforcement, policing, CMPD -- we cannot do this ourselves," said Deputy Chief Gerald Smith before council in early January.
The violence interruption coalition was approved in St. Louis, and according to our sister station, KSDK, the program is in the hiring process.
Trusted community members, some who have served time before, are trained and hired in the neighborhood initiative. They are then called upon to deescalate situations before anyone pulls a trigger or becomes violent.
"We are truly in this together," said LaToya Cantrell, the mayor of New Orleans.
She announced the same program was starting in her city in 2018 when New Orleans was one of the deadliest cities in the country.
The city uses similar violence interrupters.
"Any time anybody has anything going on that consists of violence, we intervene, we try to disseminate that intervention with intelligence, disseminate it with respect and obedience and hopefully we can bring peace to it," said Eugene Vessel, a violence interrupter in New Orleans. Vessel previously spent 17 years behind bars.
So far, it seems to be working.
For the third year in a row the total number of murders in New Orleans has declined. In 2019 the city hit a 50-year low for homicides, with about 119 murders, compared to 146 in 2018.
Police in St. Louis have targeted three hotspots for violent crimes, and CMPD has followed suit. They spotlighted four areas that have the most crime in the Queen City.
Now, council will have to decide if a solution that has had success in another town, and is underway in a second, could work to turn things around in Charlotte.