Chicago murders down, but death toll still high
CHICAGO – The nation’s third-largest city ended 2017 with 650 murders, about 15% fewer homicides than a year earlier but still an unusually high number of killings during a period when other big cities have seen a reduction in violence, according to police data released Monday.
Though there was a significant drop in gun violence in the city in 2017 compared with the year prior, Chicago topped the 600 mark for the second straight year and continues to see a level of violence that was typical of the late 1980s and 1990s when many major metros were dealing with the scourge of gang-fueled drug violence.
For the second straight year, Chicago tallied more murders than New York City and Los Angeles combined. In fact, New York’s murder rate fell to the lowest the Big Apple has seen since the 1950s.
The number of shooting incidents in Chicago dropped from 3,550 to 2,785 for the same period. The bulk of the violence was gang-related.
“While we made significant progress this year, we’re certainly not celebrating, “Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said. “There is still a lot of work ahead of us, but we’re headed in the right direction.”
To stem violence, Chicago police launched what they dubbed Strategic Decision Support Centers — datadriven nerve centers that the department said helped it more quickly respond to shootings and helped officers predict where the next incident might occur.
In the six districts where police launched the nerve centers in 2017, murders and shooting incidents decreased by about 25%, Johnson said.
Though Chicago recorded more killings than any other U.S. city, other large metros saw a higher per capita murder toll in 2017.
Baltimore recorded 343 murders in 2017, the second-highest toll the Charm City has seen in a single year and the highest per capita in city history, according to The Sun in Baltimore.
St. Louis’ homicide toll reached 205 as of Sunday afternoon, or about 65 murders per 100,000 people. By comparison, Chicago recorded 24 murders per 100,000 residents.
For the first half of 2017, Chicago was on pace to tally more murders than it did in 2016, when the city recorded 771 murders, according to police data. The department began to see progress as it pressed ahead with its tech surge.