CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department released the city's third quarter crime stats Wednesday, and police admitted it's been a tough year.
Crime has gone up 5 percent in the last nine months with violent crime increasing by 11 percent within that time span, as well.
[ALSO READ: CMPD crime reduction units restructure priorities during violent year]
Police said they have had 7,900 encounters with people with guns, seizing more than 1,500 illegal guns in the process.
CMPD has also seen an increase in its arrest rate, arresting more than 13,000 people. That's a 5 percent increase.
Deputy Chief Gerald Smith said he is hopeful that with the police and community working together, the numbers will start to go down.
[RELATED: Police say new task force aimed to reduce violent crime in Charlotte making progress]
“What’s it going to take? What we’re doing now, and we’re going to have to continue to search for that key to turn it around," Smith said. "But we believe we will turn it around, and when I say ‘we’ I’m not just talking about the police department, but we, as a community will turn this around.”
Although the numbers of local crimes have been on the uptick, Chief Kerr Putney said he is confident that police are doing their part. He said he has reservations about the role the judicial system has played in the process and suggested that too many violent repeat offenders are getting out of jail or prison, too soon.
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