About 1 in 4 crimes reported to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department is cleared (—% of 2023–2025 reports), and about 1 in 6 by an arrest (—%). Nearly every clearance happens in the first month.
Clearance rate, 2023–2025 reports
—%
By arrest: —%. Founded criminal reports only
Cleared within 90 days, 2025 reports
—%
2017: —%; low of —% in 2024
Violent crimes cleared by day 30
—%
By day 365: —% (Kaplan-Meier, reports since 2021)
Violent crime clearance, 2025 (FBI)
—%
Median of 7 NC peer agencies: —%
Each year measured at the same 90-day mark, so recent years aren't penalized for having had less time. 2026 covers reports through July.
Share of reports cleared by each day after the report (Kaplan-Meier; open cases are kept as censored, not dropped). Reports since 2021.
The same 2023–2025 reports under four definitions of "clearance rate".
Share cleared by how long after the incident began it was reported, 2023–2025.
Actual clearance rate minus the rate expected from each division's mix of offenses at citywide rates, percentage points, 2023–2025.
FBI Crime Data Explorer: clearances / offenses reported to the FBI.
Founded criminal reports per month, with the STL trend. July is the seasonal peak, February the low.
Drug and weapon offenses are usually found by an arrest, so they clear far more often than thefts.
| Offense | Reports | Cleared % | By arrest % |
|---|
Sources: CMPD Incidents, City of Charlotte Open Data (— reports, Jan 2017 to Oct 28, 2026); FBI Crime Data Explorer. Founded criminal reports exclude non-criminal service reports and unfounded reports. Reports are not all crime, and this open data is not CMPD's official crime statistics. Part of a data analysis portfolio: Python, DuckDB SQL, lifelines and statsmodels.