Decrease in Chicago gun violence continues through end of September: police

Gun violence across the city remains at a four-year low through the end of September 2019, according to data collected by Chicago police.

The 1,633 shootings and 382 murders in Chicago between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30 this year are the fewest the city has seen in that period since 2015, Chicago police said. Those are drops of 11% and 10%, respectively, compared to 2018.

The Sun-Times has counted 389 homicides so far this year.

“We’re proud of the progress that we’re making,” Chicago Police First Deputy Supt. Anthony Riccio said at a media briefing Tuesday. “It is progress. No one’s spiking the ball, no one’s declaring victory, but it is progress. We’ll continue to build on this, it’s been about three years of steady declines in violent crime.”

Chicago police

The month of September also saw its lowest number of shootings and murders in four years, police said, though just barely. The 48 homicides in September were just short of last year’s total of 49, while the 208 shootings last month marked a slight decrease from the 215 the city saw in September 2018.

“While the reductions in crime continue motivating our officers in the field, we refuse to rest until every Chicagoan in every neighborhood feels safe, and is proud of their police department,” said Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson.

Officers recovered over 1,000 guns from city streets in September, police said. The police department is on pace to seize over 10,000 guns by the end of 2019, with nearly 8,600 taken so far this year.

Other crimes such as robberies, burglaries and vehicle thefts remain at a 20-year-low through the end of September, police said.

Riccio attributed the crime reductions to technology centers implemented across the city and improved relations between police and local communities.

Despite these reductions, Riccio noted that the city has seen an uptick in crime in and around CTA stations. The department has increased the amount of uniformed and plainclothes officers assigned to the CTA in an effort to combat the trend.

“There’s a lot of high definition video on the trains and stuff as well, so our success rate in apprehending these guys is high, but what we want to do is we want to knock it off before it even gets started,” Riccio said. “But yeah, that does continue to be a challenge for us.”

During Tuesday’s briefing, CPD Cmdr. Daniel Godsell also discussed the department’s progress on reforms to the department required under a federal consent decree.

Godsell said the department’s new policy that will require officers to report every time they point a gun at a person will go into effect Nov. 1.

An online portal documenting uses of force by CPD officers in accordance with the consent decree was released on Monday.

“We still have a long way to go to achieve operational compliance with the consent decree, but in the face of those aggressive deadlines we’ve got folks who are fully dedicated to reform under the supervision of the department,” Godsell said.

Read more on crime, and track the city’s homicides.