"Crime Is Down" Has Been a Mantra in Chicago

The politicians and the CPD brass claim it is down, even if it isn't. But the latest stats will be hard to explain away. A year after boasting of sharp crime reductions during COVID lockdown, CPD faces reality | CWB Chicago

So last year they could claim "Crime is Down!" with a straight face, because it was. Was it because of anything the police or politicians were doing?

The department seemed to take full credit for the crime reduction in its statement, giving no indication that crime reports might have been down due to unprecedented restrictions on day-to-day life.

But that didn't last forever.

Between March 20 and April 13 this year, murders are up 26%, shooting cases are up 38%, criminal sexual assaults are up 47%, carjackings are up 52%, and motor vehicle theft is up 24% compared to the same days in 2020, city data shows.

There are data for several sections of chicago that are seeing particularly nasty increases. And then there is the fact that the numbers are higher than they were in 2019.

And the data shows violent crime categories like murder, shootings, and carjackings are up in recent weeks even compared to the same time in pre-COVID 2019. That won’t be easy to explain away, either.

I predict that they will just ignore the statistics and concentrate on the crisis de jour.

As for the Crime is Down mantra, that dates to 2014, when CPD got caught cooking the books to make themselves look better. From Chicago Magazine - The Truth About Chicago’s Crime Rates: The city’s drop in crime has been nothing short of miraculous. Here’s what’s behind the unbelievable numbers.

Chicago conducted a 12-month examination of the Chicago Police Department’s crime statistics going back several years, poring through public and internal police records and interviewing crime victims, criminologists, and police sources of various ranks. We identified 10 people, including Groves, who were beaten, burned, suffocated, or shot to death in 2013 and whose cases were reclassified as death investigations, downgraded to more minor crimes, or even closed as noncriminal incidents—all for illogical or, at best, unclear reasons.

This troubling practice goes far beyond murders, documents and interviews reveal. Chicago found dozens of other crimes, including serious felonies such as robberies, burglaries, and assaults, that were misclassified, downgraded to wrist-slap offenses, or made to vanish altogether.

Because nothing says, "Making the city safe!" like lying through your teeth about safety. It's part of the Chicago Way.