By: Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner
The Democratic National Convention is coming to Chicago in August and its organizers are likely sweating over the potential mess it might become. Not because of the pro-Palestinian protests that are likely to occur, but because of Chicago’s unabated crime.
It’s a mess that Chicago Mayor Johnson and other city officials have been incapable of addressing.
Chicago continues to lead the entire nation this year in total homicides. The number of violent crime victims in the city is at a six-year high. And the city’s robbery spree continues. Take what happened just days ago when “A group of armed men needed just 45 minutes to rob eight businesses from the Loop to Lakeview on Thursday morning.”
Yes, overall major crimes in the city are down 12% in 2024, but that’s coming off of the post-pandemic record number of crimes committed last year. More than 17,600 major crimes had been committed by this point in 2023, the most of the last five years.
A big driver of 2024’s smaller crime numbers is a decline in motor vehicle theft – down 24% over last year. Theft and burglary are down as well. However, violent crimes like robbery and aggravated battery are worse compared to last year.
That’s led to a growing number of victims of violent crime. More than 7,500 Chicagoans have been victims of a violent crime so far in 2024 – the highest number since at least 2019.
Homicides are also still plaguing the city. They are down 5% vs. the same time period last year, but they are still 26% higher than in 2019, before the current crime mess started. So far this year, there have been 111 murders through March 31, the most of any big city in the country. In 2019, there were 88.
And this year’s 5% homicide drop pales compared to what’s happening in some of the nation’s biggest cities. In Phoenix, homicides are down 39%. In Philly, they’ve fallen by 37%. And in New York, homicides have dropped 17%.
2024 still far worse than 2019
2024 numbers are far worse when compared to 2019, the last year of “normalcy” in Chicago before the pandemic and George Floyd. Today, major crimes are still up 38% compared to five years ago, especially motor vehicle thefts, which have jumped more than 165%. Robberies are also up 27%. And murders are up 26%.
As much as Chicago officials would like to control world events like the Israeli/Palestinian conflict – they called for a ceasefire in Gaza – they can’t.
What they can control, but won’t, is Chicago’s violence and crime. That won’t reflect well when the eyes of the nation turn towards Chicago in August.
Read more from Wirepoints:
- Chicago Weekly Crime Tracker
- Chicago criminals out on probation/parole/pretrial release continue violence in 2024
- Jail populations shrink, electronic monitoring drops and appeals opposing detention orders ‘skyrocket’: Three concerns about impact of Illinois’ no-cash bail law
- Chicago led nation in homicides for 12th year in a row in 2023, murder rate still 5 times higher than NYC’s
- Criminals robbing with impunity: Time to care about who replaces Cook County prosecutor Kim Foxx
Audio and summary 
If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
Does it matter as to what crime they commit. This is what happens even if you run over and kill a cop.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/dekalb-man-allegedly-drugs-during-002258971.html
Chicago’s armed robbery crews are going to have a field day during the DNC convention. Pull up a chair and break out the popcorn to watch the festivities!
DNC is worried about the street-crime rates, not the murder-rate. DNC knows for every street-crime reported, there’s another three that go unreported because the victim realizes it’s only a waste of their personal-time to bother to request crime-report #.
DNC is also worried about well-organized Chicago’s pro-Palestinian protest groups, who will try to embarrass Biden – at minimum, if not disrupt convention itself.
And let’s not forget all the 911 calls that were never responded to, those crimes never make it into the statistics either.
The watched pot never boils over. This summer’s DNC convention will mostly be uneventful. There’s no yippies to protest the draft, the israel/hamas war is winding down and george floyd was 4 years ago already. What’s antifa to protest at this point anymore? I hope I’m right, we don’t need any more violence in the city. Our last convention in 1996 was during a massive crime wave too with a near record number of murders. It was a non-event for Bill Clinton to be reelected.
Holding the Dem convention here will be the gift that keeps on giving to the Republicans. Even if there is no violence, I can see the Republican party airing ads all that week simply stating the facts about Chicago and Illinois. If there is violence, that alone is a free ad for the Republicans. Growing anger over illegal immigrants and poor blacks vying for assistance will be one spark for violence. And Israel’s desire to eliminate every last Arab (either kinetically or by starvation) from Gaza will the other spark for violence. If the Republicans are smart they will continue… Read more »
Hopefully HeyJackass will track numbers of convention delegates that are crime victims. It’s going to be hard for the delegates to avoid it. There just aren’t enough CPD left to actually protect them.
The CPD who are left are just going to watch the violence. Why lift a finger when the commie rioters will sue them? This is not going to be a repeat of 1968.
If there are any significant issues, will mainstream media even show them?
“mostly peaceful’ will be the legacy media report with looted and burning stores amongst the rioting mayhem.
For some reason I just see law enforcement getting sick during the DNC’s planned ‘Hell week’ in Chicago. The ‘summer of hate’ that Pritzker and Lightfoot supported with ‘Defund the Police’ set this all in motion.
It ill be interesting to watch the TDY costs of the Illinois State Police. I bet most of them will be in Chicago providing security for this event. Feel free to bust the speed limits in the rest of the Illinois at this time.
I really feel,sorry for the members of the CPD and other law enforcement agencies thot will be assigned to the DNC hoopla. It’s going to be a mess, a really big mess and I sincerely hope that this whole affair blows up in epic proportions. Multiple delegates becoming crime victims would be the icing on the cake of liberalism. National news showing the chaos will be a popcorn eating feast.
It’s my fondest desire that the delegates experience Chicago values up close and personal.
Holding the convention in a crime ridden city in the hottest month of the year is bonkers insane!
I believe that the extreme mayhem the nation will see in Chicago will doom the Dems in the national election. The country is tired of all the craziness of the last 4 years, but the only thing the country will see from the Dems is more craziness.
They will likely have National Guard. They will make up a story for cover. MAGA “extremists”, terrorism, “far right”, etc. They will be on every El platform, and ring the downtown area and the convention site.
If that piece of shit Newsom can clean up San Fran in a matter of weeks, Mayor Brandon can do the same.
It will be happy talk. Abortion, student loan debt forgiveness, LGBTQ, Joe Biden will even legalize weed if he gets desperate enough
The MAGA country excuse might have worked 4 years ago, but it’s a spent strategy and everyone sees through it.
I don’t see JB calling out the National Guard. Really bad optics for the Dems if they need soldiers to protect them from their fellow Dems.
You don’t want to be anywhere near downtown Chicago that week.