City gun violence falls for 15th consecutive month: police

Gun violence continued to fall for the 15th month in a row, according to data provided by the Chicago Police Department.

Other crimes, such as robberies, carjackings and car thefts also continued to decline.

Compared to date last year, Chicago has seen 52 fewer murders and 229 fewer shootings, according to police. Robberies were also down 14 percent and auto thefts were down 13 percent.

In May alone, compared to the month last year, there were 21 percent fewer murders and five percent fewer shootings, police said.

Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson attributed the reductions to the department’s “data driven” crime strategy, which uses gunshot detection and cameras to assist in investigations.

Memorial Day weekend saw a quarter less shootings, and a third less shooting victims, than the holiday weekend last year, according to police. The department claimed that several pre-holiday raids, in which over 100 people were arrested, contributed to the decline in violence.

The department also claimed that ramped up staffing helped to reduce violence. Police added an extra 1,300 beat officers over the holiday weekend.

In other crime reducing measures, the department said it has recovered over 3,400 illegals guns so far in 2018.

The city has also begun using license plate readers on municipal trucks to locate stolen vehicles. According to police, the plate readers on the Department of Finance’s “booter vans” can capture 3,200 licenses per van for each shift they work.