Chicago City Wire

Columnist John Kass is leaning into his new gig as podcaster by vowing to go after Chicago Police Department Commander David Harris for saying crime was down when it is actually much higher. 

Harris is the commander of Chicago’s First District who was recently caught lying about his district's crime rates.

“If this is true, and @wlsam890 doesn't demand the commander's head, then it's just squishy Combine radio. And @chicagosmayor doesn't fear getting caught in lies about crime. What'll I do? What I always do. I'll write & talk w @JPCarlin on an upcoming The Chicago Way podcast,” Kass tweeted.

Kass hosts the Chicago Way Podcast for WGN Radio.

Kass, a longtime Chicago Tribune columnist and editorial board member who left the newspaper in 2021, posted the comment after a CWB Chicago story in which the publication outed Harris’s comments made on WLS-AM’s Steve Cochran Show. 

“A CPD commander claimed on WLS-AM this week that crime has dropped 44% under his leadership. It's actually up 30%,” CWBChicago tweeted about the incident.

When asked by Cochran why he thought crime was down, Harris did not hesitate. 

“Well, I’m gonna have to brag a little bit. One, my leadership,” Harris said. 

Harris claimed under his leadership crime was falling, when it actually increased substantially by 30%. 

“Yeah. I took over in June, and since then, overall crime is down 44%,” Harris bragged.

CWBChicago mocked into Harris’s tendency to give police wrestling belts for doing a good job. 

“Perhaps it’s appropriate that Harris would use a wrestling belt. Because, like wrestling, the crime statistics he listed on WLS were fake,” CWBChicago reported. Harris added specifics to his claims. 

“Robbery is down 55%. Our aggravated batteries are down 41%. Burglaries are down 42%,” Harris said. 

CWBChicago quickly dispelled Harris’s statement and pointed to public data indicating robberies are up 2.3%, aggravated batteries are up 2.7% and burglaries are up by 1.5% in the First District.