CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Chicago police on Tuesday released preliminary shooting statistics for 2018. The numbers show shootings and murders down for a second straight year, but murders still top 500.
Chicago police credit the decreases in part to the addition of more than 1,000 new officers in recent years. Police also cite the creation of high-tech nerve centers in 20 out of 22 police districts, where officers rely on gunshot-detection technology and predictive analytics that help quickly get police to areas where violence is most likely to erupt.
"Are we where we want to be? Of course not," Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson told the Chicago Tribune in an interview about the crime figures. But he added: "I do think we are taking steps in the right direction."
Although the decrease in 2018 is significant, the homicide total is a repeat of 2016 and 2017, when the number of killings in Chicago was higher than the combined total in the country's two other largest cities. As of about mid-December, New York had 278 homicides and Los Angeles had 243.
Police said the numbers may be adjusted as incidents from the end of the year are tabulated. Official numbers will be released in several weeks in accordance with the FBI’s crime reporting guidelines, the department said.