(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Aurora police have released their crime statistics from last year, which showed a significant decrease in crime — with one notable exception.
Reports of criminal sexual assault nearly doubled last year in Aurora: from 68 in 2020 to 135 last year.
Aurora Police Department spokesman Paris Lewbel said this is because of a change to Illinois law, not an increase in attacks.
Legislators in 2020 lifted the statute of limitations on sexual assault, he noted. Previously, there was a 10-year limit on filing charges.
Lewbel said many of the sexual assault reports generated in Aurora last year actually covered incidents that happened many years ago.
Meantime, the number of murders in Aurora fell from 11 in 2020 to 6 last year, while the number of reported shootings fell 32%.
There were 24%fewer robberies, while the number of vehicle thefts fell 10%, police officials reported.
Lewbel credits much of the decline in crime to a return to community policing in Aurora last year, after the COVID pandemic severely limited it in 2020.
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