Getting Away With Murder
Posted on March 25, 2015
Chicago’s homicide clearance rate has been dismal for years. Our stats say just 31.4% of homicides (backing out police, self defense, etc…) committed last year resulted in an arrest. That leaves a whole lotta people walking around with blood on their hands. WBEZ FOIA’d the CPD and they’ve confirmed our back of the envelope calculations:
“In his reelection campaign, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is taking credit for a slight decline in the city’s homicide rate. But a WBEZ investigation raises a question about the murders that are still happening: Is the city doing enough to put the killers behind bars?
Emanuel has allowed detective ranks to decline during his term even as internal police records show some of the lowest murder clearance rates in decades.
Regarding the detectives, the number on the payroll is down by about 19 percent since Emanuel took office, according to records obtained by WBEZ under the state Freedom of Information Act. The ranks of evidence technicians and forensic investigators have thinned by even larger proportions.”
It’s not uncommon for scanner traffic to state there is “no crime lab available” or that the evidence technicians are in such a backlog that it’ll be 8 hours before they’ll arrive on scene (sometimes not at all).
What’s even worse is the non-lethal shootings clearance rate. Our math says just 4.2% (13) of shootings this year have lead to an arrest. Almost as many people, 10, have accidentally shot themselves so far this year.
In short, don’t shoot yourself.
Keep it short and to the point. Name calling and similar stupidity will be deleted. If you insist on writing several paragraphs, start your own blog.