SE Illinois News

Rep. Adam Niemerg (R-Teutopolos) is responding to a report for 2022 that shows that in Chicago, arrests were made for only 5% of offenses in the category of major crimes. This includes murder, sexual assault, aggravated battery and carjacking. This number is significantly down from the 10% arrest rate that was recorded in 2019.

“The safety of Chicago residents is at risk because the city’s police department lacks the resources needed to adequately do their job,” Niemerg said. “The police are simply overwhelmed. It is time for (Mayor) Lori Lightfoot to step up and prioritize public safety.”

Niemerg blames "woke ideology."

“What is happening in Chicago is a direct result of city leaders putting politics and woke ideology ahead of the safety of honest citizens,” Niemerg said. “We are not going to stop the rise in crime in Chicago until there is a change in leadership.”

Arrest rates varied by the type of “major crime,” based on the seven categories that cities have long reported to the federal government, with Chicago’s homicide arrest rate down 5% to 29 percent in 2022 and some 13% lower than the 41% in 2020.

“Chicago needs to better fund the police department,” Niemerg said. “We need more – not fewer – officers on the street. We also need better leadership in the State’s Attorney office. Kim Foxx is deliberately refusing to prosecute criminals, creating a vicious circle of violence. The police lack the resources to do their job and when they do make arrests, Foxx refuses to prosecute the criminals who end up right back on the states to commit more crimes. We must break the cycle.”

The highest arrest rate within thefts in 2022 was the nearly 9,000 arrests in retail thefts – a 16% arrest rate, meaning more than four of five retail thieves in Chicago escape justice. The nearly 20,000 thefts “over $500” resulted in arrests just 1% of the time and the nearly 19,000 thefts “$500 and under” led to arrests in just 1.6% of cases. For the almost 5,000 “thefts from a building” the arrest rate was 0.5%.