(The Center Square) – Crime in Illinois was a central issue throughout 2022 with candidates from both major parties making public safety an election-year topic.
According to Safewise, Illinois had a higher violent crime rate at 4.3 incidents per 1,000, compared to the national average of 4.0. Total crime in Chicago is also up 41% compared to 2021 when looking at police statistics.
The high rate of violence in Chicago led 2022’s GOP gubernatorial candidate and state Sen. Darren Bailey, R-Xenia, to giving Chicago a new nickname during October’s debate.
“I’ve got a new name for Chicago, I am going to call it Pritzkerville,” Bailey said. “Everyone of Governor Pritzker’s extreme policies are destroying the city, out of control crime, devastating education, the fact that corporations are packing up and leaving every day.”
Gov. J.B. Pritzker claims that he has done all that is needed to keep people safe during his time as governor.
“I want to remind you that we made major investments in support of police,” Pritzker said. “In particular, in building back our Illinois State Police, which provides so many officers to back up the Chicago Police Department as well as police departments all over our state.”
Chicago saw a rise in carjackings this year with issues of interstate violence persisting. According to Illinois State Police statistics, Illinois has seen 689 expressway shootings since 2019.
Ted Dabrowski of Wirepoints spoke with The Center Square the increased carjackings in Illinois.
“We decided to look at carjackings and see what the data looked like,” Dabrowski said. “What we found were some very scary things. One of those things was that carjackings were almost three times as high as they were in 2019.”
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot addressed critics in October and said the city is safe.
“We work hard every single day to make sure people feel safe because they are safe,” Lightfoot said. “That’s why year over year we are down 17% in homicides, 19% in shootings, and we continue to look for ways in which we can improve.”
Illinois’ annual budget included $200 million in funding for public safety.
