Chicago crime: Assaults up 6.7% past 12 months, more violent

Assaults were up 6.7% for the 12 months ending in April as confrontations became more violent. Black Chicagoans were more than 5 times more likely to be assault victims than their white counterparts.

Chicagoans reported 6.68% more assaults from May 2023 through April 2024 than during the previous 12 months, with cases of assault overall becoming more violent.

Residents experienced a nearly 5.5% increase in violent assaults during the same period, with aggravated assaults against police officers involving the use of knives as well as unarmed aggravated assaults of police officers seeing the largest percentage increase.

Overall, the number of assaults has grown each year since the pandemic in 2020. The total number of assaults reported in Chicago increased by 9.6% between 2019 and 2023.

Though the number of assaults has increased, the arrest rate has fallen. In 2019, 18.2% of assaults resulted in an arrest. By 2023, the arrest rate on assaults dropped to 10.2%.

In raw numbers, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s Austin neighborhood had the most assaults at 1,203 followed by Englewood. Places such as Edison Park and Rush & Division reported minimal crimes.

Black Chicagoans were the people most-often assaulted in April, constituting 50% of assault cases while representing about 28% of the population. A Black Chicagoan was also 5.3 times more likely to be the victim of an assault than a white Chicagoan. Hispanic Chicagoans are 3.2 times more likely to be victims of assault during the past 12 months.

Failing to address crime will eat away at Chicagoans and the city they love until public leaders take steps to meaningfully address the problem. That includes making sure the city has enough police officers on the beat, the courts can process cases efficiently, and prosecutors and judges are able to do their jobs effectively.

So far Johnson’s response to rising, violent crime has been to reduce budgeted police by 833 positions. The Chicago Police Department is operating with at least 1,447 fewer officers than in 2019 when former Mayor Lori Lightfoot took office.

With so many neighbors being assaulted in Johnson’s own backyard, you’d think there would be a plan in place to help them. Cutting police officers is not a plan.