The Rhino Times is a conservative, independent newspaper. It publishes the crime statistics; I'm not sure if the Observer does or not. Anyway, the paper may have an anti-CMS editorial slant, but really the numbers tell the story. This is the latest I could find, and reports through Dec. 2007:
Articles 
Cops Busy At Schools
by Alan Hodge
May 08, 2008
Despite claims by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools that rules directed at improving classroom discipline this scholastic year were finally going to acquire some teeth, statistics provided by the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department reveal the issue has been getting the same old gumming as usual.
The CMPD numbers show that officers responded to more than 1,600 service calls at local middle and high school addresses from August 27 to December 31, 2007. Nearly half of the calls, about 750, were triggered in response to crime-related incidents such as weapon possession, assault, larceny, trespassing, vandalism and drug possession.
To put that number in perspective, police responded to calls for crime at CMS middle and high school addresses an average of 10 times per day for the 73 school days of the first semester.
Equally disturbing, calls for service to CMS campuses resulted in about 400 arrests of suspects between the ages of 12 and 18 years old. The leading cause for arrest was non-aggravated assault, with just over 100 made for that crime at a CMS address. There were also 41 arrests made for drug possession, which included cases for possession of marijuana, cocaine, opium and what police termed "synthetic narcotics," along with 83 arrests for the crime of disorderly conduct.
There were 13 arrests made at CMS addresses for aggravated assault with physical force and 12 for aggravated assault with a weapon. One of the cases involved a gun at Independence High.
There were also two arrests for armed robbery and one strong-arm robbery at CMS middle and high school addresses. A 14-year-old and a 15-year-old were arrested for the armed robberies, and a 16-year-old for the strong-arm robbery.
Nearly 30 school-aged suspects were arrested for trespassing on school grounds; 19 for larceny and 16 for vandalism. Violation of other state statutes and a category labeled "miscellaneous" accounted for 73 arrests.
Board of Education member Ken Gjertsen said the police service call numbers were discouraging, but not surprising given the district's shortcomings dealing with discipline problems.
"I'm shocked," Gjertsen said with more than a tinge of frustrated cynicism. "I thought the anti-bullying policy was supposed to bring a new paradise to CMS."
Part of the problem, he said, was CMS' steadfast reluctance to make dealing with fundamental discipline problems a top priority and to take purposeful action to address it.
"While we worry about athletic eligibility and NAEP tests, CMS discipline continues to be a rote system where students who don't want to learn are sent to Derita Alternative to serve their time, over and over again," Gjertsen said. "If kids don't want to be in school to learn, then stay home so others can."
Out of the more than 1,600 police trips to schools, about 850 were in response to incidents such as traffic stops, zone checks, commercial burglar alarm responses and accidents.
The total number of police trips to CMS campus addresses during this year's first semester tops the nearly 1,400 police service calls CMPD made to CMS middle and high schools for the first semester of the 2006-2007 academic year, which ran from August 25 to December 15, 2006.
For clarification, when police record a service call to a school address it meant they could have also conducted their business outside of the building on school grounds, or on a bordering street. But a review of the ages of the individuals involved with the overwhelming number of police responses to school addresses indicates that most likely took place on campuses.
Randy Hagler, with CMS Law Enforcement, also said that each call for service to a school doesn't mean that a CMPD officer actually visited a school.
"If a school resource officer (SRO) fills out a report of citation at a school, it's considered a call for service," Hagler said.
There are 55 SROs countywide in CMS middle and high schools. CMS Law Enforcement has nine officers.
"We try to handle as much as we can," Hagler said. "But we rely heavily on CMPD."
During the 73 school days of the current school year's first semester, CMPD responded to 133 calls for service triggered by assaults at CMS middle and high schools. That was followed in frequency by 118 larceny calls and 101 calls responding to what is generically called "disturbances."
Fighting and scuffling brought police to a CMS address a total of 73 times during the first semester. That was followed by 58 drug-related calls, including possession of drugs, or of having paraphernalia such as a pipe, rolling papers or roach clip.
The crime of trespassing drew CMPD officers to a CMS address 46 times between August 27 and December 31. That tally was just one call ahead of the 45 times police had to go to a school because someone communicated a threat of delivering a beating, or worse, to another individual.
A juvenile possessing a weapon was responsible for 32 trips by police to a CMS middle or high school. Police responded to 26 calls for service in response to a person carrying a weapon; and there were12 police trips to schools to investigate an armed person, or for someone actually firing a weapon.
During the first semester of the 2007-2008 academic year, police also responded to four cases of rape/sexual assault, three cases of armed robbery, two cases each of juvenile sex offense and robbery from a person, and one trip apiece for kidnapping and enticing a juvenile.
There were also 14 bomb threats that brought officers to a CMS location last semester. Destruction of another type, commonly called graffiti, also generated 14 police responses.
Another frequent type of incident that brought CMPD officers to CMS campuses was the 31 times police checked out what was termed a "suspicious vehicle." Next in line for frequency of police trips to a local school address were the 26 calls to investigate injury to real or personal property. Kids playing hooky, or more officially truancy, created 12 CMS address visits for law enforcement last semester.
Independence High had the dubious honor of leading the way with 119 police responses during the first semester, followed by Garinger, where 111 police trips were prompted. East Mecklenburg logged 106 visits recorded by CMPD; West Mecklenburg, 97; Olympic High, 89; West Charlotte 59; Myers Park, 47; Providence, 46; Vance, 44 and Midwood, 43.
South Mecklenburg High's address was the site of 41 law enforcement calls for the period August 27 to December 31, 2007. Shadowing South Meck in the number of police responses was Harding University with 39; Philip O. Berry High, 33; Northwest School of the Arts, 16; Mallard Creek High, 14 and Ardrey Kell, 13.
CMS middle school addresses were the magnet that drew several hundred police responses during the first semester of the current school year. The top school in this regard was Eastway Middle with police there 72 times. Smith Middle saw 37 police responses. Northeast, McClintock and J.T. Williams middle schools had 36 police visits apiece; Martin and Spaugh had 32 police responses to their address, followed by Coulwood and Wilson with 29 police visits; Cochrane Middle, 26; M.L. King Middle, 24 and Southwest Middle, 23.
Quail Hollow and Randolph middle schools each had 18 CMPD responses last CMS semester. A four-way tie followed with Piedmont Open, Carmel, Ranson and Community House each logging 15 police visits to their addresses. J.M. Robinson had 13 and Albemarle Road Middle had 12. Police made nine service calls to Kennedy Middle, seven to Alexander Graham and two to South Charlotte.
Overall, the number and age of suspects arrested at a CMS address paints a disturbing picture: 23 were 12-year-olds; 40 were 13-year-olds; 113 were 14-year-olds; 106 were 15-year-olds; 63 were 16-year-olds; 57 were 17-year-olds and 8 were 18-year-olds.
The CMS address arrest record for kids aged 12 to 18 years, according to CMPD figures, for the period August 27 to Dec. 31, 2007, show Independence High logging 59. Garinger High had 43 arrests; East Mecklenburg High, 32; and Myers Park and West Mecklenburg each had 23. Double-digit CMS address arrest numbers for last semester continued with West Charlotte High, where 20 were reported, and Olympic High with 19 recorded arrests.
McClintock Middle was the site of 17 arrests; Ranson Middle had 16, while Vance and E.E. Waddell high schools each had 12. Coulwood Middle recorded 11 and 10 were attributed to Martin Middle's address; nine each at Northeast and Eastway middle schools; and eight each at Berry High and Harding. Cochrane and Sedgefield middle schools each had seven arrests of youths attributed to their addresses from August 27 to December 31 of the current school year.
CMPD officers made 6 arrests at the address for Providence High, while Alexander Graham and M.L. King middle schools each had six arrests take place last semester. Spaugh and Albemarle Road middle schools each reported five.
According to the CMPD, a quartet of kids found themselves arrested at Wilson Middle last semester. That was trailed by the three arrests each at Quail Hollow Middle and Northwest School of the Arts.
Recording two arrests at their addresses were South Mecklenburg High, as well as Piedmont Open, Community House and Northridge middle schools. Carmel, Randolph and Southwest middle schools each logged one arrest during the first semester of the current school year.
Chalk it up to circadian rhythm, too much weekend, or anticipation of a coming weekend, but looking at the days of the week when CMPD officers made arrests at CMS addresses shows an interesting pattern for the first semester of this school year.
Tuesdays saw the largest number, with 106 youthful criminals arrested on that day at a CMS location, followed by Wednesdays, which saw 101 kids aged 12 to 18 years arrested at a CMS address. Perhaps feeling frisky, Fridays sparked the arrest of 84 youths on or near school grounds.
Maybe Mondays left students feeling drained from the weekend, but only 60 kids were arrested from a CMS campus or nearby street corner. Thursdays were fairly quiet too at CMS locations with 57 kids arrested by police.
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