Guns up; criminal violence down

[larrymeyer]

Some one should tell Gov Rendell


Guns up; criminal violence down
ANN DOSS HELMS
ahelms@charlotteobserver.com
Related Content
READ MORE The full N.C. report is online at www.dpi.state.nc.us under "News." Charlotte-Mecklenburg's spike in guns at school last year was unusual in North Carolina, but the district's overall rate of criminal and violent acts was below the state average, a new report shows.

CMS tallied 28 guns in 2006-07, more than twice as many as any other N.C. district. Based on a preliminary district report, the Observer had reported in September that CMS's guns had reached a six-year high, up from 18 the previous year.

Wednesday's statewide crime and violence report provides context: CMS, with about 9 percent of North Carolina's students, accounted for 20 percent of all firearms reported last year (a category that doesn't include BB, pellet and toy guns). If not for CMS, the state would have seen a decline in real guns at school.

Wake County Schools, roughly the same size as CMS, had the next-highest total with 12.

"It's a very disturbing trend," which appears to be continuing, said CMS spokeswoman Nora Carr. The district has reported 10 gun incidents during the first three months of school; five loaded guns have been confiscated.

Carr and other CMS leaders attribute the spike to rising juvenile crime in Mecklenburg County, the availability of guns in communities and the willingness of students to report classmates who bring weapons to school.

The state requires schools to report 17 types of criminal and violent incidents. Possession of drugs, alcohol and weapons other than firearms accounted for 85 percent of the 11,013 incidents reported statewide, and a similar share of CMS's 942 incidents.

While Wake had fewer guns than CMS, it reported more assaults on staff, assaults with weapons and assaults causing serious injuries (the last two categories can include students or staff).

CMS's total rate of criminal and violent incidents per 1,000 students was below the state average and below three of North Carolina's five largest districts: Wake, Cumberland and Forsyth.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

READ MORE
The full N.C. report is online at www.dpi.state.nc.us under "News."


School violence and crime

The total number of violent and criminal acts reported in the Charlotte region and North Carolina's five largest districts in 2006-07, along with the rate per 1,000 students:


District Acts Rate
Hickory 48 10.8
Newton-Conover 31 10.7
Cumberland 520 9.9
Forsyth 492 9.8
Kannapolis 46 9.6
Wake 1,137 8.9
Mooresville 44 8.4
N.C. 11,013 7.8
Iredell-Statesville 155 7.5
CMS 942 7.4
Union 243 7.1
Catawba 121 7.0
Guilford 482 6.9
Cabarrus 158 6.2
Gaston 135 4.3
Lincoln 50 4.2




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: N.C. Department of Public Instruction

[jsb889]

Very curious how they were found. If the kid was showing it off, a random locker search, threats, etc. We had one kid at my local high school with a pistol, found (IIRC) in a random locker search. He wasn't treatening with it at all.