Chicago's 2013 Homicide Totals Decidedly Lower Than 2012
By Chuck Sudo in News on Dec 20, 2013 5:40PM
Barring a sudden surge in the next 11 days Chicago’s 2013 homicide numbers will not match or exceed the jaw-dropping 512 murders within the city in 2012. We knew you could do it, Chicago!
Chicago recorded its 400th homicide of the year Thursday and Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy has been pointing to his “saturation strategy” where off-duty police officers are paid overtime to patrol the streets in high-crime neighborhoods. Hairstylist Lisa Bogan told the Tribune the area of 70th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue isn’t nearly as violent as it was a year ago, although “people are still scared to come around here because they don’t know it’s really cleaned up yet.”
The strategy, however, comes at a heavy price. Police overtime costs are closing in on $100 million, triple what was budgeted in Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s 2013 budget. This number is one of many reasons for the city’s multiple bond downgrades this year and his 2014 budget has $75 million earmarked for police overtime pay. Aldermen have asked that the Chicago Police Department hire more officers to fill vacancies and put them on the streets but both Emanuel and McCarthy have so far balked at the suggestion.
Through 2013 homicides are down 19 percent over 2012, the lowest numbers recorded in nearly a half century, according to McCarthy and CPD officials. The Tribune reports other factors accounting for the reduced number of murders are the harsher winter we had, a demand from McCarthy for greater accountability from his top commanders and “outside the box” approaches to curbing retaliatory shootings and violence.
Still, the number is too high compared to the homicide rates in New York and Los Angeles.