CHICAGO — Chicago police say nearly all categories of crime declined in the city in the first three months of the year.
While murders and shootings have declined in each of the last three years, newly released crime data show burglaries, car thefts and carjackings have also declined this year after stubborn rises in recent years.
There have been 111 murders in Chicago in the first three months of the year, down 5-percent from the same period last year.
There were 410 shootings, down 7-percent. CPD says the number of shooting victims has declined to its lowest level since 2019. There have been 241 carjackings reported so far this year, down 22-percent from last year.
The number of yearly murders and shooting incidents have been declining since their 2020 peaks but remain higher than they were the year before the pandemic, when they reached lows not seen in decades.
Chicago police trumpeted a 77% murder clearance rate in the month of March, the highest since 2015. However, WGN Investigates data obtained through the Freedom of Information Act shows the annual clearance rate remains much lower. In 2023, CPD detectives solved just 52-percent of murders in the city.
