You may have read or heard about crime in the news recently, particularly during this election season.

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John,

You may have read or heard about crime in the news recently, particularly during this election season.

So what does the data actually say about crime?

The Major Cities Chiefs Association recently released a Violent Crime Survey ([link removed]) , comparing the first half of 2024 to the same time last year.

The survey has some good news and some bad news.
* The good news is that, for most of America’s major cities, violent crime fell.
* Unfortunately, the bad news is that violent crime actually increased in a number of cities, and sadly (for North Carolinians) Charlotte and Raleigh are two of the cities that saw rising crime.

For example, Charlotte had 45 homicides in the first half of 2023.

This year there were 61 homicides (an increase of more than 35%), and an increase in robberies and aggravated assaults. In Raleigh, the number of homicides almost doubled (9 to 16), and the number of rapes increased too.

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North Carolinians are already worried about crime, and when you look at this data, they have good reason.

Thankfully, we know what we need to do to bring crime down: intensive community policing.

Longtime readers have heard of community policing before, but for those who need a refresher, community policing is the strategic deployment of significant numbers of well-trained, well-managed police officers to high-crime neighborhoods.

It is a proven method of deterring crime and restoring order to neighborhoods.

To implement intensive community policing, we need to:
1. hire more police officers,
2. increase the pay for police officers (to retain quality officers),
3. equip police officers with state-of-the-art training, direction and support,
4. deploy police officers as “peacekeepers” to communities that suffer the most from crime and disorder

In particular, it is often Black neighborhoods that are hit the hardest by crime waves and a lack of policing. Alternatively, these same communities stand to benefit the most from an increased police presence.

For example, the authors of a recent study ([link removed]) wrote:

* “We find that expanding police personnel leads to reductions in serious crime. With respect to homicide, we find that every 10-17 police officers hired abate one new homicide every year. In per capita terms the effects are approximately twice as large for Black victims. In short, larger police forces save lives and the lives saved are disproportionately Black lives”.

You can read more about community policing here ([link removed]) , here ([link removed]) and here ([link removed]) .

Esse quam videri,

Brooke Medina


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** More from Locke
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1) 🎉🎉🎉 General Assembly approves funds for OSP and ESA+ expansion ([link removed])
* So what happened?
+ The General Assembly approved legislation which, among other things, eliminates the expanded waitlist for the Opportunity Scholarship and Education Student Accounts + program
+ And it approved funding for the programs as well (HB10)
o The bill will now go to Governor Cooper, who is expected to veto the legislation, but Republicans hold veto-proof majorities in both chambers
+ While the final steps remain to be taken, the school choice movement in North Carolina would not have gotten this far without the help of countless supporters
* We look forward to North Carolina offering families true educational choice!

You can read more here. ([link removed])

2) 🗳️🗳️🗳️ RFK Jr. fight demonstrates need for clear ballot rules ([link removed])
* You may have seen that RFK Jr. ended his presidential campaign recently…
+ But after he requested to be taken off the ballot, the North Carolina State Board of Elections (NCSBE) voted along party lines to keep him on the ballot…
* Then the North Carolina Supreme Court overruled the NCSBE, ordering Kennedy to be removed
+ The court ruled the North Carolina Constitution “protects voters’ fundamental right to vote their conscience, and to have that vote count”
* If this is confusing, you’re not the only one
* The confusion surrounding Kennedy’s withdrawal demonstrates a need for several connected reforms
+ All candidates should have the same withdrawal deadline by law
o The General Assembly should impose a standard withdrawal deadline for all candidates, including presidential ones, so they can all be treated equally
o That withdrawal deadline should be one week before the first ballots are mailed
# Current law allows every candidate, except those running for president, to withdraw well after the first batch of mail ballots are printed… that seems like very bad practice
o The General Assembly should set a deadline of one week before the first mailed ballots, to mitigate the costs of reprinting ballots to county board of elections
+ The deadline to send the first mail ballots should be 46 days before Election Day
o North Carolina has the longest official mail voting period of all the states
o This would make the deadline for any candidate to withdraw from the ballot 53 days from the election
* These reforms would treat all candidates equally, protect voters from misinformation and allow for timely ballot changes, without undue burdens on election officials or voters

If you’d like, you can read the whole story here. ([link removed])

3) 💵💵💵 A new study on school finance in North Carolina ([link removed])
* Locke published a new report on school finance in North Carolina
* What’s the takeaway?
+ North Carolina spent $10.4 billion in 2022-2023 to educate 1.5 million public school students
+ But the way North Carolina funds public schools is extremely top-down and centralized, utilizing a byzantine “Resource Allocation Model”
+ The system is so bewildering and complex, that not even the bureaucrats who designed it fully understand it
* Given that K-12 public education is North Carolina’s largest expenditure, there should be a lot more transparency with how schools are funded
* This report investigates some key questions about our funding system:
+ Are schools and students being treated fairly?
+ Are schools getting the resources they need, in a timely and effective manner?
+ Is our financing system transparent, accountable, and respectful of both public and private options?
+ The report found that the Resource Allocation Model lacks transparency, flexibility, accountability, and doesn’t treat schools fairly
* What can be done to fix it?
+ The report looks at examples from three other states (Tennessee, California and Indiana) and what North Carolina can learn from them
+ It determines that student-based funding is the best path forward for North Carolina
o This would establish a base funding amount per student, with additional funding for students with exceptional needs, and give districts enough flexibility to make sure all students benefit
o This more transparent system would ensure that student needs are met, local education leaders are empowered, and schools are treated fairly

You can read all the details here. ([link removed])


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