Chicago City Wire

Last Thursday morning, eight West Loop businesses were robbed at gunpoint between 5.30 a.m. and 6.30 a.m.— one small part of a skyrocketing trend of robberies in Chicago over the past year, according to a new Illinois Policy Institute (IPI) report.

The increase in robberies, some violent, are just part of the massive crime problem that awaits Eileen O’Neill Burke, the presumptive successor to Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx. One clear difference between the two, those close to the Burke campaign say, is that she has no agenda beyond law enforcement.  

“She’s not a politician, and she doesn’t have a political agenda,” said one source close to the campaign who asked not to be identified. “She’ll go where the law leads her.”

After a drawn-out vote counting process, Burke, a former prosecutor, defense attorney and judge, emerged as the winner of the March 19 Democratic primary over Clayton Harris, who was backed by Foxx and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. Burke will almost certainly win November’s general election in heavily Democratic Cook County against the Republican candidate Bob Fioretti.

Burke is already on record promising to reverse Foxx’s policy of not prosecuting retail theft where the amount of goods stolen is under $1,000.00. Burke plans to lower the threshold to $300.00.

The Foxx retail theft policy, critics say, led to a dramatic drop in arrests for the crime in the city.

The Chicago Police Department was making between 300 and 400 arrests per month for retail theft, prior to the pandemic, according to an August 2023 WTTW report.  

“While the arrest numbers predictably dropped sharply with the onset of the pandemic and widespread store closures, the arrest numbers have not returned to pre-pandemic levels,” the report said.

Retailers blamed Foxx.

“Increasing the threshold has a demonstrable impact in terms of encouraging additional theft,” Rob Karr, President and CEO the Illinois Retail Merchant Association’s told WTTW. “Criminals are intelligent. They know exactly where that threshold is.”

“You can’t necessarily blame rank-and-file law enforcement who don’t want to do a couple of hours of paperwork if cases aren’t going to be prosecuted,” Karr added.

The recent IPI report said that more Chicagoans were robbed in 2023 than in any year in the past decade, a jump of 29% in a year. All the while, the robbery arrest rate fell to a 23-year low of just over 5%.

In 2023, there were 11,933 robbery victims, with some having several victims. That equates to more than one robbery victim for every 250 people living in Chicago.

And, the report says, there was a 14% jump in aggravated robberies, which are felonies that involved the use or threat of a weapon.

Robberies with a handgun increased by half. Robberies committed with other firearms more than doubled.

“Addressing violent crime starts with reducing the city’s police officer shortage, putting more officers on local beats and ensuring witness protection so police are able to obtain vital information needed to identify and pursue criminals,” wrote IPI’s Patrick Andriesen. “Longer-term solutions cannot work unless today’s crimes are addressed and Chicagoans stop living in fear.”

Chicago has 1700 fewer police officers than in 2019, when Mayor Lori Lightfoot took office, according to former mayoral candidate Paul Vallas.

“The impact is seen in the lack of police officers available to respond to 911 calls and an abysmal arrest rate,” Vallas wrote in a November 2023 commentary. “Arrest were made in fewer than 12% of all crimes in 2022; the arrests between 2019 and 2021 were down 50%.”