NC must build on its crime decline

By Greg Glod and Kevin Daniels

During President Trump’s Greenville visit last month, the White House touted North Carolina’s falling crime, and the numbers back it up. State figures show that murders fell 12% in the first half of 2026, robberies 18%, and car thefts 23% compared with a year earlier. Charlotte ended 2025 with violent crime down 21% and 14 fewer homicides. These declines mean lives saved and families spared a loss they would carry forever.

North Carolinians should be able to work and raise families without planning their lives around crime. The election may be over, but the responsibility to keep North Carolinians safe is not.

The tragic story of Iryna Zarutska, the 23-year-old stabbed to death while riding home from work on Charlotte’s light rail in August 2025, still resonates today. Her family lost someone irreplaceable, while other riders clearly did not feel safe afterward. Ridership fell 10% the next month and 19% by December. Despite the Charlotte Area Transit System now spending $5 million to keep riders safe, public use was still down this spring. Meanwhile, comparable cities, including Atlanta, Dallas, and Nashville saw 20% or more ridership growth.

The effects reach far beyond the train. A worker who no longer feels safe riding home may have to pay more for transportation or turn down a shift. When customers stop going out after dark, restaurants lose business. An owner who pays to replace stolen equipment or hire security has less money to hire another employee. Children carry the worry about violence into school. Families who can afford to leave may do so, while others must keep changing their lives to avoid danger.

The burden also reaches residents who have never been attacked. They may have to weigh which streets to avoid, which invitations to decline, and whether their children can safely play outside.

Officials who want residents to start businesses and raise families in North Carolina should make reducing crime a priority. A business incentive means little if customers are afraid to visit. Improving a school is harder when parents and children fear the walk home. Government cannot promise prosperity while neglecting the safety people need to pursue it.

North Carolina’s own police departments show how to deliver that safety. Last year, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police reorganized their Crime Reduction Units to deploy based on real-time crime trends. Those units made 781 arrests and seized 480 firearms as violent crime declined. This approach focuses limited resources where officers can prevent the most harm.

Research on crime hot spots shows that targeted policing reduces crime and can make nearby streets safer. Protecting a neighborhood means pursuing the people who commit violence and putting officers on the streets where it happens, and the strategy works without treating everyone else there as a suspect.

Federal support can help extend this work. President Trump’s April 2025 executive orderdirected federal resources toward training, pay, and legal protection for local officers. This spring, Operation Spring Cleaning brought federal agents together with Charlotte-Mecklenburg police and other state and local agencies. The three-month operation caught 157 fugitives, recovered 110 illegal firearms, and put 56 defendants in federal court. Cooperation helps officers pursue dangerous offenders across city and county lines and build stronger cases.

Departments need competitive pay and quick hiring to put enough qualified officers on the street. Raleigh has increased starting police pay 22% since 2024. Fayetteville’s chief credited pay raises and incentives as vacancies fell from 47 to 23 earlier this year. Federal hiring grants are helping Greenville add eight officers.

Asheville shows what can happen when police support falls away. It began in 2020 with 238 officers and lost 84 of them in 18 months as pay lagged and departing officers cited a lack of support. The department stopped sending officers to thefts under $1,000 with no suspect and to simple assaults reported after the fact. Violent crime climbed 17% in 2022, a year its chief called historically high.

North Carolina’s progress should raise expectations for every public official in the state. Residents should demand the staffing and enforcement needed to keep crime falling, and the freedom to live their lives and fulfill their American Dream without the fear of crime cutting it down.

Greg Glod is the director of law and justice at the America First Policy Institute.Kevin Daniels is executive director of America First Policy Institute-North Carolina.