By Don Babwin, The Associated Press
CHICAGO, Ill. (AP) - Chicago’s homicide rate is on pace to fall below 500 in a year for the first time since 1965, and the city is about to lose the unwanted title of U.S. murder capital, police officials announced Tuesday.
With four days left in the year, there had been 445 homicides in the city - 145 fewer than at the same time last year.
“That’s 145 fewer families - mothers, fathers, sons and daughters - who are not mourning the loss of a loved one,” Police Superintendent Philip Cline said in announcing the numbers Tuesday.
Cline said the drop in homicides in Chicago - which finished 2003 with 600 murders, the most in the nation - is in large part the result of stepped up efforts to combat gangs and drugs, including pouring more officers into high-crime areas and putting surveillance cameras on light poles where gang activity was occurring.
“We’re more strategic and we’re more focused,” he said. “We’re putting our resources where they are needed most based on better analysis of information. We’re using technology to get information out into the field more quickly so that we can prevent crime instead of merely responding to it.”
Violent crimes in general have decreased, Cline said. In the first 11 months of this year, there were 1,726 cases of aggravated battery with a firearm, compared to 2,851 in the same period in 2003.
The city’s overall crime rate is on a pace to drop for the 14th consecutive year.
Homicides are on the decline around the country. Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C., are also likely end this year with fewer murders than last year.
Still, Chicago has had far fewer homicides this year than both New York and Los Angeles. New York’s homicide tally this year stood at 547 as of last weekend, and Los Angeles will likely end this year with at least 50 more homicides than Chicago.
Cline said the department will continue to build on recently implemented law enforcement efforts. Its Targeted Response Unit, which involves platoons of officers deployed to high crime areas, will be expanded from 180 officers to 270 officers, said department spokesman Dave Bayless. The city also plans to increase the number of surveillance cameras watching the city’s streets.
Fewer new murder cases has also given detectives more time to solve older homicides, Cline said.
“Last year, we cleared 86 prior-year homicides,” he said, “this year we cleared 141.”