Public Safety

By Asha Ellison

Though gun violence in Fayetteville is still often discussed in headlines and is subject to public debate, a closer look at the data tells a more nuanced story. In 2024, the City of Fayetteville commissioned the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute to further assess gun violence across the city.

Using a mixed-methods approach, the Institute analyzed crime data, community focus groups in ShotSpotter neighborhoods, and cost estimates to better understand both the reality of violence and how it is perceived across the city […]

By Fatima Rodriguez Caba

In 2019 and 2020, homicide rates within Charlotte rose by 45%.

This rise motivated the City of Charlotte to implement the Alternatives to Violence program within the Beatties Ford Road corridor. The corridor includes historical landmark neighborhoods and sites, Black-owned businesses and Johnson C. Smith University, Charlotte’s only historically Black college. While rich in community, history and culture, the corridor has borne the burden of historical discrimination and marginalization (e.g., redlining, predatory lending), resulting in a lack of socioeconomic development and resource investment– leading to disproportionately higher rates of poverty, crime and violence within the corridor […]