Chicago’s Homicide Rate Has Decreased For Third Straight Year

Here’s something to celebrate: Chicago is reporting a significant drop in homicides for the third year in a row, according to CNN.

Chicago has recorded 490 murders for the year of 2019, according to Chicago police. That number is about 13% lower than 2018’s total of 564.

The continued decrease in violent crime is being embraced by city officials given a particularly deadly 2016 when 756 homicides were reported, the highest number of homicides in two decades.

Shootings also are down coming into 2020. The police department’s preliminary tally of shootings for 2019 — 2,139 — is about 9.6% lower than 2018’s count of 2,367.

In a press conference earlier this week, Interim Chicago Police Superintendent Charlie Beck also announced a 17% reduction in robberies citywide and an 18% reduction in burglaries.

The numbers may change as final counts will be released after an FBI audit is completed in the next few weeks, but it looks like the people of Chicago can count on those numbers still being significantly lower.

City leaders are crediting efforts, such as community policing and investments in social services and schools, for the drop in violent crime.

They also credit what they call data-driven policing. The Chicago Police Department in recent years has created support centers where supervisors use information from many sources and technologies — including security cameras and gunshot detection systems — to learn where crimes are happening and where they are likely to occur.

“I think that all of those things working together — being on the ground, supporting vulnerable victims, supporting vulnerable communities — led to the declines that we saw this year, and part.”

The preliminary count suggests Chicago had close to the number of murders in 2019 as it did back in 2015, when the tally was 478.

We’re happy to see the violence continue to decrease in the Chi and we hope that this trend continues in 2020. Stay here for any updates.