CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Unincorporated areas of Mecklenburg County are growing and police say so is the crime.
On Tuesday, CMPD officials briefed local leaders about the rising crime in Charlotte's extraterritorial jurisdictions, or ETJs.
Many people are moving to the outskirts of Charlotte, where it can be more affordable to live. As development spikes in these areas, Deputy Chief David Robinson said, unfortunately, so do violent and property crimes.
"When growth occurs, other crimes do come," Robinson explained to the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners.
CMPD serves about 72,000 people who live in unincorporated areas along the edges of the county. Neighborhoods that were once quiet and even rural are now exploding with development.
One example of rising property crime, according to Robinson, is thieves breaking into new housing developments in the ETJs.
"When those appliances go in those houses they get stolen and that’s a huge inconvenience," Robinson said.
According to CMPD, property crime in the ETJs increased by 28% in 2023. While violent crime went down inside city limits last year, it increased by 16% outside city limits.
"When we have more people, we have more calls for 911," Robinson added. Those emergency calls in ETJs, Robinson said, take an average of 10 minutes to respond to.
Commissioner Vilma Leake said the Board gets a lot of complaints from residents in these areas for not getting adequate emergency services.
Robinson said to improve CMPD's response time, "it comes down to making sure we have enough staffing to handle those call volumes."
Chief Johnny Jennings said Tuesday during the meeting that staffing is one of CMPD’s top priorities this year. He said the department has reduced its officer vacancies from about 340 openings in 2023 to now just under 200 openings as they continue to recruit.
Contact Julia Kauffman at jkauffman@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.