Pineville Police District expanding to unincorporated area of Mecklenburg County

PINEVILLE, N.C. (WBTV) - Changes are coming to an area of southern Mecklenburg County sandwiched between Pineville and the Ballantyne.

Starting this summer, the unincorporated currently patrolled by CMPD will transfer coverage to the Pineville Police Department.

While Pineville will have to hire more officers to patrol it—the police department said the change will improve response time in this portion of the county and add more officers to the force.

“Just get used to seeing a Pineville police car in your neighborhood,” said Captain Corey Copley, Pineville Police Department.

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Pineville Police is preparing its force to take on a larger service area of Mecklenburg County after county commissioners approved the change Tuesday.

“There’s a small piece of an unincorporated area just outside of the Ballantyne outskirts, just outside of the Pineville town limits that’s called our ETJ, the extraterritorial jurisdiction,” said Captain Copley.

Destiny Edwards, a member of Woodside Falls HOA said the current response by CMPD is, “very responsive, very aware of our neighborhood, what our needs are, what our concerns are.”

The one-square-mile area has a population of about 3,500 people and is sandwiched between Lancaster Highway, McAlpine Creek, Providence Road and the South Carolina state line.

Edwards added, “I hope that the Pineville Police is very proactive in connecting with these neighbors who are going to be switched over, like I said we’ve had a great relationship with CMPD.”

People living in the area also have a Pineville address but are not considered residents of the town.

Andrew Michael, who lives in a different part of the unincorporated area said, “I think having more of that small town feel, being covered by the Pineville Police Department does make a lot of sense.”

Mecklenburg County is giving Pineville Police a startup fund of $440,000 to hire 6 additional officers, vehicles and a 911 dispatcher.

Michael said, “From what I have heard from others, response time will be improved.”

Captain Copley added, “our average response time anywhere in the town limits of Pineville is four minutes or less anywhere, so that would mean the new ETJ that we’re going to be taking over, we will likely have a really good response time to those areas as well.”

Pineville Police tell WBTV current issues with people being switched several times when calling 911 should be fixed when the change happens this summer.

Some neighbors are hopeful this will start a journey to officially being a part of Pineville.

“I think if Pineville is going to take us over for police, bring us in fully to the town, make us part of that or leave us with CMPD and incorporate us with Charlotte,” said Edwards.

Pineville Police tell WBTV, patrols in the unincorporated area will start on July 1st and the next 6 months will be spent recruiting and training new officers.

The agreement with the county runs from 2023 to 2027 with options to terminate in FY2026 or FY2027 with a 17-month notice.

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