Domestic violence jumps, drug offenses fall. How coronavirus changed crime in Charlotte.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pure Pizza and Pizza Peel – both in Plaza Midwood – have limited operations to take-out. But that didn’t stop someone from trying to rob them this week.
However, whoever committed the break-in didn’t get anything. There wasn’t any cash to steal.
Owner of Pure Pizza Juli Ghazi said that to prevent the spread of germs, the store no longer regularly accepts cash. At Pizza Peel, supervisor Gregory Taylor said the cash drawer, which the robber had tried to tamper with, had been locked up.
While daily life in Charlotte has seen an unprecedented disruption in March, there have been both ups and downs in crime.
CMPD has said that domestic violence calls have spiked and drug crimes have dipped. A Charlotte Observer analysis found that there were fewer overall incidents during the last two weeks of March than last year.
On Central Avenue – where both Pure Pizza and Pizza Peel are located – there have been a string of six commercial burglaries over the last week, according to CMPD’s crime map.
According to a Charlotte Observer analysis of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police data, CMPD filed around 8,090 criminal reports in March 2019. This month, CMPD saw 7,479 incidents – around an 8% decrease.
However, the last two weeks of March – during which public schools closed and Mecklenburg County issued a stay-at-home order – CMPD saw a even more dramatic decrease in incidents.
The third week of March this year saw around 10% fewer incidents, or 175,than a similar period last year. Last week, CMPD saw a 20% decrease or 365 fewer incidents.
However just because daily incidents have decreased doesn’t mean CMPD hasn’t been busy.
“Unfortunately crime has not taken a break during this pandemic,” said CMPD Deputy Chief Gerald Smith in a press conference on Wednesday.
Crimes that have increased or stayed the same
The department has seen three noticeable crime increases: shootings into occupied dwellings, domestic-related 911 calls and COVID-19 related scams and phishing attempts, Smith said.
Compared to March last year, there have been around 60 additional cases or an 80% increase in shootings into homes, Smith said. There has also been a 18% increase in 911 calls related to domestic disturbances.
When it comes to domestic violence, spikes also occur during snowstorms or other natural disasters when people are stuck at home together, said Chris Herrmann, an assistant professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York and former NYPD crime analyst.
However, 911 calls and robberies have not changed significantly, Smith said. Thefts and aggravated assaults – which includes crimes such as shooting into occupied homes – have not changed much either, according to a Charlotte Observer analysis. Both types of crimes changed less than 2% compared to March of last year.
As for murders, March 2020 had five more homicides than it did last March and the city is keeping pace with its murder rate from last year — the highest in more than a decade. As of April 3, the city has experienced 27 homicides. Last year at this time, the city had only had two more.
Some crime decreases in other areas
Crimes related to burglary, drugs and sex offenses have decreased.
There were 14 fewer forcible sex crimes — which includes crimes such as rape and groping but not incest or statutory rape — which corresponded to an 18% decrease.
Compared to a similar time period, burglary and breaking and entering violations have decreased 20% and violations related to drugs and narcotics decreased 26%. Drug and narcotics violations can include anything from possession, purchase or manufacturing illicit substances, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which issues guidelines on how to categorize crimes.
This decrease is likely attributable to both the decrease in public activity and the fact that more drug distribution is moving online, Herrmann said.
“(There are) fewer likely offenders, fewer potential victims rubbing elbows and being at the same place and same time,” he said.
In other words, if everyone is inside and fewer possible offenders and victims outside, there are fewer offenses likely to occur, Herrmann said.
However there is no way to know whether the decrease in some crimes could last through April as Charlotte and the nation reels from high unemployment rates and an unstable economy, he said.
According to the Department of Labor, more than 10 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits in March. In North Carolina, state officials said Thursday that more than 350,000 people have filed for unemployment since mid-March. Economists have said the figures are likely to be a low estimate since the number does not include people who have not yet filled out a claim.
“You might see (robberies and aggravated assaults) go up once people start losing their jobs and money’s not coming in,” he said. “Crime is definitely going to be a way to make a little bit of money.”
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