Crime statistics show Chicago’s homicide rates are rising quickly. The third largest city in the U.S. was about to reach 500 homicides at end of 2012. The Windy City hit 508 homicides in 2008, which was the highest homicide rate recorded in the U.S.
Chicago vs. New York Homicide Rates
An article in the Huffington Post compares the homicide rates in Chicago and New York. Despite New York having a population three times the size of Chicago, the city recorded 414 murders last year. In fact, the city is experiencing the lowest number of shootings and homicides since 1963.
Chicago Battles Gang Violence
The high crime rate is largely connected to gang violence, according to Chicago’s police commissioner.
“When people ask me, ‘What’s different about Chicago?’ that’s one of the things I tell them. We have a proliferation of illegal firearms,” Chicago Police Commissioner Garry McCarthy said.
McCarthy says they are attempting to get gun violence under control.
“In the first six months of the year, we seized three guns for every gun seized in Los Angeles and nine guns for every gun confiscated by the New York Police Department,” McCarthy said.
According to Global Post, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, is attempting to target the areas that have been hit hard by violence.
“We’ve got a gang issue, specific to parts of the city, and we have a responsibility to bring a quality of life to those residents, and we are going to do it,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in
an interview with the Times last week.
“My bigger issue is not only the homicides and shootings. It’s what it does to all the legitimate citizens in that community and the kids.”
Your Thoughts?
Tell us your thoughts on these new numbers. What do you think should be done to calm the crime in Chicago? Leave your comments in the section below.
