Prairie State Wire

The Democratic National Convention is coming to Chicago in August and its organizers are likely sweating over the potential mess it might become. Not because of the pro-Palestinian protests that are likely to occur, but because of Chicago’s unabated crime.

It’s a mess that Chicago Mayor Johnson and other city officials have been incapable of addressing.

Chicago continues to lead the entire nation this year in total homicides. The number of violent crime victims in the city is at a six-year high. And the city’s robbery spree continues. Take what happened just days ago when “A group of armed men needed just 45 minutes to rob eight businesses from the Loop to Lakeview on Thursday morning.” 

Yes, overall major crimes in the city are down 12% in 2024, but that’s coming off of the post-pandemic record number of crimes committed last year. More than 17,600 major crimes had been committed by this point in 2023, the most of the last five years.

A big driver of 2024’s smaller crime numbers is a decline in motor vehicle theft – down 24% over last year. Theft and burglary are down as well. However, violent crimes like robbery and aggravated battery are worse compared to last year.

That’s led to a growing number of victims of violent crime. More than 7,500 Chicagoans have been victims of a violent crime so far in 2024 – the highest number since at least 2019.

Homicides are also still plaguing the city. They are down 5% vs. the same time period last year, but they are still 26% higher than in 2019, before the current crime mess started. So far this year, there have been 111 murders through March 31, the most of any big city in the country. In 2019, there were 88.

And this year’s 5% homicide drop pales compared to what’s happening in some of the nation’s biggest cities. In Phoenix, homicides are down 39%. In Philly, they’ve fallen by 37%. And in New York, homicides have dropped 17%.

2024 still far worse than 2019

2024 numbers are far worse when compared to 2019, the last year of “normalcy” in Chicago before the pandemic and George Floyd. Today, major crimes are still up 38% compared to five years ago, especially motor vehicle thefts, which have jumped more than 165%. Robberies are also up 27%. And murders are up 26%.

As much as Chicago officials would like to control world events like the Israeli/Palestinian conflict – they called for a ceasefire in Gaza – they can’t.

What they can control, but won’t, is Chicago’s violence and crime. That won’t reflect well when the eyes of the nation turn towards Chicago in August.