Police in Mecklenburg County have recently released its first quarter crime rate report, which has reported that violent crime has decreased 5.3 percent.  The downside of the report is that rapes have increased by 17.3 percent since the last yearly report.  Investigators have reported a total of 61 rapes since January 1st compared to 52 last year.

Another statistic that has increased since last year is robberies within Mecklenburg County which are up by 0.2 percent.  Most of the other crimes on the report, however, are decreasing.  Aggravated assaults have decreased by 9.5 percent, residential burglaries are down by 17.7 percent, and commercial burglaries are down by 10.1 percent.  Finally, the homicide rate in Charlotte has decreased from 12 last year, to 8 this year.