Lake County Gazette

Recent statistics released by the city of Chicago crime portal have shown that despite crime being up, arrest rates are down in major crimes. 

State Sen. Chris Wilcox (R- McHenry) said the numbers are concerning for the city.

“It sends the message that there is very little risk to whatever behavior I want to do and I can get away with it in Chicago,” Wilcox said to the Lake County Gazette.

According to a Wirepoints report on Feb. 3, the new data for 2022 shows that arrests were only made for 5% of offenses in major crimes like murder, sexual assault, aggravated batteries and carjackings. This is down 5% from the 10% recorded in 2019.

The arrest rates varied by the type of “major crime,” which were based on seven categories that the cities report to the federal government. Chicago’s homicide rate went down 5% to 28% last year. This is 13% lower than 2020’s reported amount of 41% and 2021’s amount of 33%. The arrest rate for criminal sexual assault was only 3%. This is down from 8% reported in 2019 and the 5% reported in 2021. Aggravated battery had an arrest rate of 25% in 2019, and the most recent report has shown a rate of 16%.

In 2022, the highest arrest rate was in retail, with nearly 9,000 thefts at a 16% rate. This means that about 84% of retail thieves are not brought to justice in Chicago. For the nearly 20,000 thefts of “over $500,” there are arrests only 1% of the time. For the nearly 19,000 thefts of “$500 and under,” there are arrests just 1.6% of the time. For the 5,000 “thefts from a building,” the rate was only 0.5%.

When asked why he feels the arrest numbers are at this point, Wilcox said, “You’ve tied the hands of police and it’s created a situation where gangs control the neighborhoods in the city.”

“You need to take crime seriously and that starts with putting people in place that will prosecute more cases,” Wilcox said. “We also need to get to a place where we’re giving officers more support to do their jobs.”