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Citing frustrations with persistent crime, a trio of North Carolina lawmakers is urging Democratic Gov. Josh Stein to deploy the National Guard in Charlotte, saying the state of the city has become “increasingly dire.”
“Recently, the city faced eight homicides in seven days. The murder rate in uptown Charlotte is now 200% higher than it was a year ago,” the letter states. “According to the Fraternal Order of Police, aggravated assaults involving knives or guns have risen from 86 in 2024 to 111 in 2025, and personal strong-arm robberies have increased from 26 to 31 in the same period.”
Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., one of the letter’s authors, said the request doesn’t just come from the state’s congressional delegation.
“This is not just my idea. This is the Fraternal Order of Police that had come, saying that they believed this is important and asking the governor and mayor to step up and do it,” Harris said, alluding to a similar letter published by Charlotte-Mecklenburg law enforcement earlier this year.
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The letter’s three signatories, Harris, Rep. Pat Harrigan and Rep. Chuck Edwards, all represent the Charlotte area.
The North Carolina letter comes as President Donald Trump has used the National Guard to bring attention to crime in cities like Washington, D.C., Memphis, Chicago and others. So far, the administration has deployed the National Guard to six urban areas and floated deployments in another five — even as courts weigh the use of federal troops to address domestic crime.
The letter from the North Carolina lawmakers pointed to those deployments as a template for success.
“Other cities have deployed the National Guard and seen positive results. In Washington, D.C., when President Trump deployed troops under his lawful authority, the city promptly saw a reduction in crime, including twelve consecutive days without a single homicide,” the letter states.
That’s also the thinking of members of the House Republican Conference leadership. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., called it a continuation of the administration’s work. Scalise serves the conference as majority leader — the No. 2 Republican in the chamber.
“Millions of Americans don’t feel safe in many once-great cities, and President Trump is working with House Republicans to change that. As we’ve seen in D.C. and Memphis, President Trump took decisive action, cleaned up our streets, and made those cities safer,” Scalise said.
“I commend my colleagues from North Carolina for calling out the violent crime in Charlotte and working to make the city safer for residents and visitors, and encourage more leaders to do the same,” he added.
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According to the Charlotte Police Department’s quarterly statistics report, violent crimes, commercial burglaries and larcenies from automobiles have all gone up in Charlotte since last year. But other crimes like homicides, rapes, property crimes and arson have come down modestly from levels in 2024. In many categories, Charlotte’s current crime levels are meaningfully lower than rates in 2022 and 2023, with some exceptions.
Harris thinks they could go lower.
He doesn’t envision the National Guard deployment as a long-term solution to fighting crime. Instead, Harris believes the increased law enforcement presence could create an opening for the local police force to find their footing.
“What I hope comes out of it is that in that time, the police are able to go after whoever these bad guys are, that are threatening this environment of crime. And then, at the end of the day, it’s going to create a hope, an outcry from the public that says, ‘We’re not going to accept our crime-ridden city anymore.’”
When asked what needs to change to make Charlotte’s safety a constant, with or without the National Guard, Harris said the city needs to prioritize its policies and resources on keeping violent offenders off the streets.
“After the murder of Iryna Zarutska, it brought to light a real issue with not keeping criminals behind bars,” Harris said, referring to the 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee who was stabbed to death on a Charlotte train.
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“In her case, the guy had been arrested 14 times, been put out on the street. These are things that have a lot of issues to be addressed. That’s a judiciary issue.”
Although past efforts to deploy the National Guard have been met with protest from Democratic governors in other states, Harris hopes that Stein will work with the Trump administration as needed if it becomes clear a deployment is needed.
Stein’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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