A Look at Crime in Weddington

During town meetings, deputies often tell those in attendance, that we each play a critical role in helping them do their job well. It is well understood that fighting crime is a community effort. We are blessed to have a great Sheriff’s Office and live in such a safe town. Although this is true, we are not exempt from the realities of crime.

Over the past couple of years, after several high-profile crime incidents occurred in Weddington, making headline news, residents became more concerned and started paying more attention to crime trends in our area. Many HOA’s started devoting more effort to working together across town, to improve information sharing and educating families in their neighborhoods, so everyone can do a better job detecting suspicious activity early on. Not only were residents responding as a grassroots effort to the trends we saw, but the Sheriff’s Office seemed to notice as well. An agreement was made to have our town pay for the Sheriff’s Office to hire two additional deputies for their agency and have them assigned to Weddington. Our town paid for the installation of new FLOCK Safety license plate recognition cameras as well to assist them with their work.

As many residents were moved to action, I sought to better understand the crime trends and wanted to share information to help. On June 6th, I contacted the Union County Sheriff’s Office and asked for help obtaining crime stats for Weddington. They referred me to Weddington town hall and said they could provide me the information. I completed a Public Records Request form to obtain month by month crime data covering the past four years. I went through these reports to look for the most recent trends and compared them to past years numbers. I conducted month by month comparisons, understanding that crime can take on different trends depending on the time of year. I looked at annual crime totals to compare those as well.

I observed that recent monthly numbers were consistently higher. This was the case eight out of the past twelve months. Breaking and Entering numbers were also climbing at a high rate. With this year a little more than halfway over, we had already surpassed last year’s numbers in this catergory.

After sharing information about Weddington’s crime, a letter was written by the Union County Sheriff’s Office and sent out publicly by our mayor, who is up for reelection. The letter stated that “crime is not currently on the rise”. It also thanked the support of town leadership and shared crime prevention tips so residents know how to do our part to prevent crime. Several graphs were provided with this letter to show some trends. Annual total numbers for six types of crimes were shared for years 2022-2025. These were aggravated assault, arson, motor vehicle theft, breaking/entering, larceny, and rape. This information confirmed what was observed during my recent review. Breaking and entering numbers, which many residents are concerned about, have already surpassed last year’s numbers and we are just over halfway through the year.

When my research was done, I didn’t only focus on the noticeably high breaking and entering numbers, but also looked at all crime** occurring in town. I looked at all reported crime and separated crimes that would not be influenced by proactive policing efforts like vehicle stops. The below graphs highlight Weddington’s crime trends as reported by the Sheriff’s Office over the past four years.

*2025 includes January-May (latest data obtained)

**Crime types included in the graphs (click to expand)

• Sex Offense with Child – 1^st deg

• Sexual Exploitation of a Minor – 1^st deg

• Sexual Battery

• Sexual Act by Substitute Parent/Custodian

• Child Abuse

• Statutory Sex Offence – 1^st deg

• Sex Offender Fail to Register

• Kidnapping

• Assault on Female

• Assault on Handicap Person

• Exploit Disabled/Elder Trust

• Neglecting Disabled/Elderly

• Overdose

• Larceny Misdemeanor

• Burglary – 1^st deg

• Trespass

• Discharge Firearm into Occupied Dwelling

• Communicating Threats of Mass Violence

• Possession of Weapon on School Property

• Assault on School Property

• False Bomb Report

• Cyberstalking

• Cyberbullying

• Solicit Child by Computer

• Alter, Destroy, or Steal Evidence of Crime

• Simple Assault

• Domestic Violence

• Assault by Strangulation

• Forgery

• Identity Theft

• Fraud

• Extorsion

• Blackmail

• Stalking

• Indecent Exposure

• Secretly Peeping

• Shoplifting

• Littering

Below are the steps I will take as mayor to promote transparency and support the Sheriff’s Office, to help reduce crime in Weddington.

• Our town newsletter will start being sent out again and will include crime data, trends, and prevention tips.

• I will work with town hall to share important information regarding crime to our HOA leaders and each resident. I will work to restart the Public Safety Committee in Weddington.

• I will work with the Sheriff’s Office to inquire if Weddington’s deputies can adjust patrol hours in order to have a greater presence during times crime is more likely to occur. Since breaking and entering crimes are noticeably worse, we could have deputies shifts overlap during peak times when these crimes are most likely to occur. This would allow for a greater presence in our neighborhoods during these higher probability times until these numbers are back down.

• I will partner with the Sheriff’s Office to explore opportunities to have Citizens Academy or similar educational classes taught from our town hall. Currently these classes are taught in Monroe. Because we are on the other side of the county I will see if we can have some of these classes taught here in town to make it easier for residents to attend. This will also allow us to help highlight and bring awareness to residents about these great classes the Sheriff’s Office offers.

• I will partner with our school administrators and deputies in our schools to have them provide informational classes from town hall to help educate and equip parents and students about crimes and negative trends they have seen that are affecting our students. This would be a great help and much appreciated by our families in town.

• Our town will partner with the Sheriff’s Office to create strategic plans to encourage greater law enforcement presence from deputies in our area. I will propose the idea to have a break room for deputies in our town hall where any deputy can come to eat their meals and type reports day or night. We will ensure all zone patrol cars as well as our town deputies have access to this space. This is a simple way to encourage more deputies to drive through town. This will create a greater presence of patrol cars on our roads as they come and go from town hall. It is a benefit to the deputies by providing them a nice space to eat or work when needed and also provides a benefit to our town as well.

I am running for mayor to offer creative solutions and improve the safety and security of our community. Far too often we settle for the status quo. I am offering bold and creative solutions to our town. With my vast experience in law enforcement, I have a skill set that can greatly help in this area.

We will partner with the Sheriff’s Office and be an encouragement and support to them in all their work. We will be sure they always have the resources and tools they need. We are grateful for all they do, to keep each of us and our families safe each day.