Chicago City Wire

Mayor Brandon Johnson and Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling recently presented a hopeful message that murders in 2024 were down from a year ago, with Johnson saying that a “whole of government approach” contributed to the reduction.

At a joint press conference on Dec, 31, the city data they cited showed 572 homicides recorded as of Dec. 27, making 2024 the third consecutive year that Chicago recorded fewer homicides than the previous year. In 2023, the city ended the year with 620 killings, records show.

“This city, of course, that we all love … there are still too many people who are being harmed by gun violence,” Johnson said at the news conference held at police headquarters. “The progress, though, that we have made by building stronger and safer communities this year certainly reflects a coordinated effort and a coordinated plan that has been driven by people and our place-based approach.”

Brandon Johnson, Chicago Mayor | City Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=140600449021859&set=pcb.140600662355171

Johnson incorrectly added that 2024’s totals were the lowest “in a decade,” an MSN report noted.

In a Dec. 31 posting, the popular Second City Cop blog cited a “Hey Jackass” report putting the number of 2024 murders at 609.

“With mere hours left in 2024, we wanted to post our usual note to illustrate how the year-end totals are accounted for and how best to compare this year to years past,” the post said.

“Past year-end totals reflected on this site account for resolved death investigations, found bodies, and late passings that can and will occur for many years after the clock strikes midnight on Jan 1st,” the post continued. “We apply those incidents toward the time of occurrence, not the date of death. Other agencies, such as the CPD, choose to add those resolved death investigations, found bodies, and late passings to the year in which the death was recorded.

"They list examples about how the year-end-totals climb, so what you see on the site isn't the actual totals for a while yet."

Moreover, in November, Wirepoints reported that the decline in murders is miniscule compared to that of other major cities.

“The big wave of drop in murders nationally has nearly bypassed Chicago in 2024," the report stated. "Based on reporting from AHDatalytics, Chicago is tied for the 2nd-lowest percentage drop in homicides in the country among cities greater than 250,000 in population. Cities like Jacksonville, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Cleveland, Washington DC and Baltimore have all seen murders drop by about 30% to 50% this year compared to last. Chicago, meanwhile, had dropped by just 7% as of Oct. 5.”

“The freshest data for Chicago on Nov. 5 is even worse, showing Chicago murders have dropped just 5%. That same data also reveals that Chicago has again surpassed 500 homicides, among them the recent murder of policeman Enrique Martinez, who was shot and killed while on duty on Nov. 4 by an assailant out on electronic monitoring.”

Citing an overall reduction in crimes involving shootings, Snelling said that “you can’t go into a new year with some, simply, old ideas. We have to have new ideas. We have to have a focus on what it is that we’re trying to reduce. And if we’re trying to reduce violent crime, the most important thing here is to get to the bottom of it, resolve it, hold those accountable who are committing those violent acts, break down crime patterns, and when we can do that we start to see a reduction in crimes.”