CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Across Charlotte, vehicle and property crimes continue to tick up.
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said young kids and teens are stealing and breaking into vehicles at an alarming rate. In 2023, juveniles committing property crime was up 86%.
One of CMPD's priorities in 2024, however, is putting a stop to that trend.
“We're going to put a lot of work, a lot of work, into automobile property theft,” CMPD Lieutenant Kevin Pietrus said.
According to CMPD, the rise in property crime is fueled by the 120% increase in auto thefts. There were more than 8,000 vehicles reported stolen in Charlotte in 2023, which breaks down to an average of 22 vehicle thefts per day.
The crimes can leave some people without transportation or cost them a bunch of money. Police said the Kia and Hyundai social media challenge continues to drive these thefts.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have the magic bullet that’s going to stop that overnight," Pietrus said. "It’s going to take some real safeguards by owners of these cars."
Some of those safeguards can include, making sure car doors are locked or even getting a steering wheel lock, parking in well-lit areas that have surveillance, and making sure to bring valuables inside and not leaving them in the car.
CMPD made more than 1,200 auto theft arrests in 2023, which they said two-thirds of those arrests were juveniles.
Another big challenge for CMPD in 2023 was the rise in juvenile suspects involved in violent crimes. According to CMPD, teens are settling arguments with guns rather than words.
“Every time a trigger is pulled, victims are created whether someone is hit or not," Pietrus said.
Pietrus said criminal issues with our youth are fueled by several different factors, but sometimes, it's revenge.
“Retaliation is one of the things we see quite often," Pietrus said.
According to CMPD, shootings involving a person under the age of 18 as the suspect increased by 33% in 2023, while shootings involving a juvenile victim increased by 18%.
“The trend is this: Kids thinking it’s OK to pick up a gun and fire it at another person to solve whatever perspective issue they think is there," Pietrus said.
CMPD said a majority of teen crimes are committed with stolen guns, too. The crime gun suppression team has helped get some weapons off the streets.
But yet again, CMPD said they will need the help of everyone in the community to find a peaceful resolution to help Charlotte's youth.
“How many times can you say the exact same thing and nothing change without losing a little bit of hope, but the fact is we haven’t lost hope, because we can’t afford to lose hope," Pietrus said.
CMPD currently has quite a few youth programs that it hopes will provide mentorship and guidance to young people in the area, which CMPD hopes parents will take advantage of these programs.
Contact Lexi Wilson at lwilson@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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