Crime Down Overall But Still Increases In Some Districts

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Aug 3, 2009 5:20PM

It was a violent July, but for the first six months of 2009, crime was down overall across the city compared with the same time period in 2008. The Sun-Times has a break-down of the stats and shows a nine percent decrease in overall crime, including a three percent decrease in violent crime.

Still, as always, there are hidden numbers beneath those blanket statements, such as a 33 percent increase in the number of robberies in the 1st District (includes downtown and a part of the South Loop), an increase in homicides for nine districts, and an increase of sexual assaults in 11 districts (with two maintaining the same numbers as last year).

According to the statistics, there were 200 homicides between January and June of this year, compared with 227 in the same time-span last year. For more information, check out the Sun-Times story as well as their breakdown of violent crime by district [PDF], and district map [PDF].