Chief Jose Lopez, in a presentation to the City Council on Monday night, implied that higher pay for police officers would improve crime-fighting because the department is losing quality officers to higher-paying cities.

Last year, there were 1,741 violent crimes defined as murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults. That was down from the 1,947 spike of 2006, but well above the 1,561 and 1,473 violent incidents seen in 2004 and 2005, respectively.

Homicides rose in 2007, from 15 to 26. There were four additional homicides deemed justifiable, two domestic and two in which an officer shot and killed a suspect.

The numbers for rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults reported all dropped.

Robberies dropped the most, by 18 percent. But that category also revealed some disturbing trends.

More than half of robbery suspects were between the ages of 11 and 20, and the median age for all robbery suspects was 20. Nearly 50 suspects in 2007 were between the ages of 11 and 15.

Also, continuing a trend observed in Durham and throughout the Triangle, Latinos made up 38 percent of robbery victims.

Property crimes, mostly larcenies, increased slightly to 11,743.

Much of the discussion after Lopez's presentation centered on pay for Durham officers.

He pointed to a Raleigh study that showed that a rookie officer would have to work 21.4 years in Durham before he or she could make a top-level salary. That's by far the worst in the Triangle.

That's having a real effect on retention, Lopez said, though there are only five vacancies among 500 sworn officer positions.

Lopez said the department could lose 10 to 20 officers, all of whom are considering moving to another "unnamed department" that's looking to expand its force.

Council member Eugene Brown noted that it takes about 10 years for a Charlotte officer to reach top pay.

"Something's wrong with this picture," he said.

Lopez said officers say in exit interviews that pay is the primary reason for them moving to other departments.

Brown said he has heard there might be other reasons, though he didn't elaborate.

"A person in Raleigh was thanking us for what a great job we do training their officers," he said.

He said raises for police officers would be a major topic of conversation during budget deliberations.

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