by Catherine Smith
Gun violence continues in Chicago, with the city seeing a significant uptick in shootings and murders compared to last year.
3,790 people were shot through Nov. 30, compared to 2,403 in the same time period last year, a 58% increase, according to a Chicago Police Department report released Tuesday.
Police reported homicides had increased by 54%, with 716 murders through the end of November, compared to the 464 in 2019.
Shootings in November increased from 154 last year to 267, a 73% increase, and nearly 340 people were shot over the month, according to police figures.
The report released Tuesday highlights some improvements in 2020. Due to the colder weather, the number of shootings and murders in November, while significant, reached a seven-month low.
According to NBC, improvements highlighted in the report include:
Officers recovered more than 10,000 illegal guns through the end of November, and made 6,600 gun arrests — which police expect to be a 10-year high.
Overall crime numbers — including murder, robbery, sex assault, theft and burglary — fell 7% in 2020 compared with the end of November last year.
Reports of theft are down 27% through November compared to 2019. Police said that the “dramatic reduction remains the primary driver of Chicago’s decrease in overall crime.”
Reports of burglary and theft remain at 20-year lows, according to year-to-date statistics.
“This has been a difficult year for law enforcement throughout the country as COVID-19 and civil unrest have converged to create changed environments in major U.S. cities,” police Superintendent David Brown said in a statement. “Chicago is no exception. And yet, our officers continue to work hard every day to make our home a safer place,”
He said police officers faced a nearly 300% increase in violence directed at themselves.
“Chicago police officers have been shot at 71 times this year, and 10 officers have been struck by bullets. In the same period of 2019, officers were shot at 18 times, with three officers struck by gunfire. In July, three police officers were shot when a prisoner opened fire at a police station on the Northwest Side,” NBC reports.
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Catherine Smith reports for American Greatness.
Photo “Police Tape” by Tony Webster. CC BY-SA 4.0.
