Buck passing thy name is Sgt. Darrell Price:

“In the past, (rapists) would have to hunt and stalk,” said Sgt. Darrell Price, who’s in charge of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s sexual assault unit. “Now, all you have to do is (get on the Internet), and she’s waiting for you at a hotel room.”

Officials also say a higher percentage of victims each year are coming forward to report rape. Nationally, the number of rapes reported to police has increased by 30 percent since 1993, according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, a nonprofit advocacy group.

Would you be surprised to find that on their website R.A.I.N.N. actually says sexual assaults have decreased 60%? So Charlotte Observer reporter Christopher Kirkpatrick is helping police cover for their inability to control their streets by playing a little word game in which he implies rapes are increasing but what he’s actually reporting is that more women who are raped will report the rape than would have in 1993. This is actually a good thing. Even better is that less women are being raped. But not apparently in the Charlotte metro area:

Rape is the only major crime category up this year, according to CMPD statistics.

Through July, there were 26 more rapes reported to police (185) than last year, when CMPD investigated 159 rapes during the same period. That goes against a two-year trend that saw fewer reported rapes in Mecklenburg.

Price said he believes the Internet is playing a role in the rising numbers. But he also explains the increase as a result of stepped-up outreach programs by the department during the past year and a half.

CMPD detectives visit about 20 at-risk groups annually, he said, including sororities and freshmen orientation classes at Davidson College and UNC Charlotte. He said the presentations encourage more victims to come forward and report rapes, which are more prevalent among college-aged women because of drinking.

Price said the department also meets with fraternities to explain that the definition of rape includes sex with a woman too drunk to legally consent. He said some victims report drinking heavily and blacking out.

I guess the Internet was getting them drunk? I also am a little uncomfortable with the implication in the article that high risk behavior causes rapes. Drinking may increase your personal chance of being raped (depending on what kind of douches you drink with I assume) but even if no women drank rapists would still rape people. It’s kind of what they do. The quasi-victim blaming gets worse:

Locally, experts say more date rapes and sexual assaults are growing out of Internet chat room introductions and from dates arranged through popular cyber-dating sites.

But Charlotte-Mecklenburg police also are reporting a surge in crimes against women who blatantly advertise adult sexual services on the Internet, Price said.

Some are prostitutes advertising through sites such as Craigslist, which offers free Internet classified ads. They try to hook up with clients in Charlotte hotel rooms, but end up getting robbed or raped, police reported. Others are arrested for prostitution in police stings.

Since September, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police say 13 robberies and five sexual assaults have resulted from ads placed by women advertising sex services. And police also arrested at least 24 prostitutes and johns in a June sting operation.

Concerned about the increase, Price said he sent an e-mail to Craigslist last week asking the online posting company to warn women advertising personal services that Charlotte had become too dangerous for them.

Craigslist has drawn fire in recent months for its adult services ads. S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster threatened to file criminal charges earlier this year against Craigslist executives. Craigslist and its CEO Jim Buckmaster fired back with a lawsuit, which is pending. N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper has also focused attention on MySpace and Facebook over sexual predators trying to contact children.

Craigslist did not respond to the Observer’s request for comment about the Charlotte incidents or Price’s request for the company to post a warning.

The women on Craigslist are easy victims, but that doesn’t mean that were they absent from Charlotte there would be no victims. One look at blogs like Crime in Charlotte, N.C. will show you that the real issue is a break down in law and order and the inability of the police to operate in a city where gangs like The Hidden Valley Kings basically control entire neighborhoods. Blaming the Internet (and by implication the victim’s use of it) is a smoke screen thrown out by cops in a city run by “progressives” who allowed crime and drug use to get so out of control that they have no idea how to re-exert their authority. Forbes lists Charlotte as one of America’s most dangerous cities. Women in Charlotte should be using the Internet to find a new home, because the police there can’t protect them.