What is Happening in Chicago?

The number of murders in Chicago from a year ago have increased 38%.  As of June 17, 240 murders have occurred in Chicago in 2012, 66 more murders than during the same period in 2011.  Other large cities, like New York and Los Angeles are either seeing their murder rates hold steady or decline.  In addition, other crimes in Chicago are actually on the decline.  Rapes, robberies, burglaries, and auto thefts have actually declined about 10 percent over a year ago.  Mayor Rahm Emmanuel is making the rising murder rate a priority in his administration.  He usually begins his day by reviewing reports about violence throughout the city overnight.  Emmanuel attributes the rising murder rate to the prevalence of street gangs and the ready availability of guns.  While the majority of the murders have occurred in the city's most gang infested neighborhoods, even some of the most affluent neighborhoods have been touched by the rising number of murders.  Experts are not ready to make any conclusions regarding the cause of the rising murder rate.  Some experts point to the city budget cuts which have left a shortfall in the number of police officers on the street.  Others point to the unusually warm summer which could explain the rise in violence.  

The warm hot summer has just begun and the streets of Chicago look like they will be particularly violent this summer.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.legaldefenderspc.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

12 Years In Prison For Crooked Cop

Jerome Finnigan, who federal prosecutors called one of Chicago's dirtiest cops, was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for a murder for hire plot that targeted a fellow cop because the fellow cop was cooperating with  investigators.  Finnigan has been in isolation in the Metropolitan Correction Facility in downtown Chicago for the past 4 years.  He was the alleged ringleader of a Chicago Police Unit that used to be called the Special Operations Section.  The Special Operations Section was specifically created to target known drug dealers throughout the City of Chicago.  Finnigan and his crew would raid homes without warrants, conducted illegal traffic stops and shook down drug dealers and innocent citizens.  Authorities have linked about $600,000 in money stolen in robberies and allege that Finnigan received at least $200,000 of that money.  Another officer recorded Finnigan planning the murder of a fellow police officer that he suspected of cooperating with authorities.  Previously, Finngan allegedly threatened to harm a Cook County prosecutor who was prosecuting him for a corruption charge.

With credit for the time he has already spent in federal custody, Finnigan may be released from federal prison as early as 2018.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.  

Crime Rate Drops Nationwide Except In 3 Illinois Towns

Three major Illinois cities are the exception to the national trend of dropping crime rates.  Nationwide, there was a drop of 5.5 percent drop in the number of violent crimes according to figures released by the FBI.  The nationwide drop in property crimes was 2.8 percent.  Violent crime in Chicago dropped 11 percent from 2009 to 2010.  Property crimes dropped by less than one percent.  However, Rockford, Joliet and Elgin all reported significant increases in violent crimes and increases in property crimes.  Rockford had a 10 percent increase in violent crimes, Joliet 9 percent and Elgin 8 percent.  Rockford had the highest rate of violent crime per capita, with 14 violent crimes occurring for every 1,000 residents.  And for every thousand residents, Rockford had 50 property crimes.  Chicago had 42 property crimes per 1,000 residents.  And even in Chicago, even though violent crimes dropped by 11 percent, there were still 10 violent crimes for every 1,000 residents.  And the number of burglaries, robberies and thefts remained the same in Chicago even though the number of auto thefts increased by 23 percent.  The biggest decline in violent crimes was in Aurora which reported a drop of 15 percent, with only 3 violent crimes per 1,000 residents.  Violent crimes include murder, robbery and assault.  The FBI did not report these figures for most Illinois cities in 2009 and 2010 because most Illinois towns failed to meet the FBI's reporting standards.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

Chicago Crime Rate Continues to Drop

Chicago's crime rate continued to decline in April.  This decline marks the 28th consecutive monthly decline, according to the Chicago Police Department.  Last year's murder rate was the lowest in Chicago since 1965.  The current figures released by the Chicago Police Department indicate that the murder rate in 2011 may be even lower than last year.  There have been 17 fewer murders so far this year than during the same period of time in 2010.  This represents a decline of 14.2 percent from 2010.  In addition, Aggravated Batteries were down 17.8 percent, Aggravated Assaults declined by about the same percentage and Robberies and Sexual Assaults also decreased sharply.  All property crimes were lower, except for vehicle thefts which actually increased by 20 percent.  

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

Crime Rate Down But Some Numbers Troubling

The good news is that the Chicago Police announced that the overall crime rate dropped in the first two months of 2011 compared to the first two months of 2010.  The number of robberies, aggravated assaults, batteries, thefts and arsons all decreased.  However, the murder rate increased by 18 percent, car thefts increased by 20 percent, after increasing 23 percent last year, and the number of rapes increased by 4 percent.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 12-800-228-7295.

FBI Sting Leads To 678 Arrests Across The Nation

A three month investigation lead by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has lead to the arrests of 678 people with alleged ties to the Mexican drug cartels.  322 of the people arrested had violent criminal histories.  The operation targeted foreign nationals from international gangs that deal with identity theft, fraud, weapons trafficking and drug dealing.  ICE claims that members of these international gangs have committed robberies, murders, assaults and rapes.  164 people were arrested for non drug related violations and immigration violations.  Law enforcement officials seized 86 guns, eight pounds of methamphetamine, 30 pounds of marijuana, one pound of cocaine, $70,000 in cash and two vehicles.  The operation involved at least 173 law enforcement agencies.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

Steady Decrease In City Crime Rate Continues

The overall crime rate in the City of Chicago dropped for the 25th consecutive month.  Compared to January of 2010 the overall crime rate decreased by 10.6%.  In 2010, the city had the fewest number of murders since 1965.  However, the number of murders in January of 2011 were more than in January of 2010.  In January of 2010 there were 22 murders and in January of 2011 there were 28 murders.  Every other category of violent crime decreased by double digits.  Ciminal Sexual Assaults decreased 13 percent, Aggravated Assaults dropped 11.3%, Aggravated Batteries dropped 10.1%, and Robberies dropped 10.4%.  Every category of property crimes, except car thefts, also had a substantial drop.  Car thefts were actually up by 21.8%.  General theft dropped 20.7%, Burglary dropped 6% and Arsons dropped 4.7%.  

Chicago Police Superintendent, Jody Weis indicated that police will continue to focus and guns and gangs saying that the majority violent crimes are caused by illegal guns.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

Chicago Crime Rate Continues To Decline

For the 22nd consecutive month, the crime rate in Chicago declined in almost every major category.  There is an outside chance that 2010 could see the lowest murder rate in modern history.  From January to October of this year, there had been 379 murders.  This is 9 fewer than the same time period in 2009.  The 2010 murder rate is keeping pace with the 2007 murder rate.  In 2007, there were 435 murders.  This was the lowest figure since 1965.  If the murder rate stays low in November and December, the 2010 figures could beat the 2007 figures.  In 1965 there were only 395 murders.  It is highly unlikely that 2010's figures will beat the 1965 numbers.  These new figures reflect a continuing steady decline in the murder rate in the past 15 years.  There was a huge jump in the murder rate in the early 90's, but there have not been more than 500 murders in the past six years.  Roughly 55 percent of murders were gang related.  This is why the Chicago Police have been focusing their attention on dealing with gangs.  The number of criminal sexual assaults were down 7.6 percent, robberies were down 11.6 percent and aggravated assaults dropped 12.2 percent.  

The good news about the murder rate doesn't change the fact that out of all major U.S. cities, Chicago has the second highest per capita murder rate.  In 2009, there were 16 murders per 100,000 people.  Los Angeles had 8 out of 100,000 and New York had fewer than six out of 100,000.  Philadelphia is in first place.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

Overall City Crime Rate Drops But Vehicle Thefts Up

The Chicago Police have announced that the overall crime rate dropped 4.5% from January to September when compared to the same time period as last year.  However, vehicle thefts were up 22.3% during the same time period.  The drop in the crime rate is the 21st consecutive monthly drop.  The number of murders declined by 2.3 percent.  The murder rate had slightly increased in August of this year.  At the current rate, Chicago stands to equal the 2007 murder rate, which was the lowest since 1965.  Violent crime was down 11 percent, aggravated batteries declined 7.7 percent.  Robberies and aggravated assaults also showed major declines and criminal sexual assaults were down more than 9 percent.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

Chicago Crime Rate Down But Murder Rate Up

The Chicago Police report that the crime rate has dropped  5.8 percent in the city but murders are up nearly 4 percent compared to 2009.  Between January and May of 2010 there were 164 murders in Chicago.  There were 158 murders for the same time period in 2009.  Other violent crimes, like criminal sexual assault and robberies have decreased.  Even property crimes, which include burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft and arson, have dropped 4.2 percent. 

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

Chicago Crime Rate Drops Again

The Chicago Police are reporting that the crime rate in Chicago has dropped again.  Overall, crime is down 6.9 percent.  This is the 16th consecutive year that the crime rate has dropped in Chicago.  However, murders and vehicle thefts increased over last year.  Murders increased 8 percent from January 1 to April 30 of this year.  There have been a total of 127 murders, which is three more than this time last year.  The vast majority of murders involved the use of guns.  All the more reason that the elimination of guns from the streets will lead to the reduction of crime.  Criminal sexual assaults, robberies, arson and aggravated batteries dropped anywhere from 5 to 20 percent.  

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

FBI Figures Show Drop In Violent Crime Rate

Today the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released figures which reveal that the level of violent crime dropped nationally by 1.9% from 2007 to 2008. Between 2006 and 2007 the number of rapes dropped by 1.6% to the lowest figure in 20 years. Murders dropped by 3.9%, aggravated assaults by 2.5%, and robberies by 0.7%. Property crimes, which have been decreasing the last five years, decreased by 0.8%. The drop in the violent crime rate comes after an increase in the violent crime rate in 2005 by 2.5% and an increase in 2006 of 1.3%.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

Shamah Sentenced to 19 Years

Today, Mahmoud (Mike) Shamah was sentenced to 19 years in federal prison for robberies of drug dealers he committed while he was a Chicago police officer. On Wednesday we reported that Shamah's partner, Richard Doroniuk was sentenced to 11 years for his part in the crimes. Shamah and Doroniuk would rob drug dealers of their money and would plant evidence on motorists they suspected as being drug dealers. There was also evidence introduced at their trial that a sitting judge was bribed by them. U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman said he hoped the sentence would send a message to Chicago police officers and restore the public's faith in the police. The Federal Sentencing Guidelines called for a minimum of 24 years in prison but Judge Gettleman thought that was too harsh and imposed a lower sentence. Shamah and Doronuik were originally nabbed by the FBI when they were caught stealing what they thought was real money from an inventory locker. As part of the sentence, Shamah will be required to repay $1,780 in money stolen from the robberies of the drug dealers and $7,000 from a storage locker at the police department. Shamah will be required to report to a federal penitentiary on August 10, 2009.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

FBI Website Tracks Bank Robberies

The FBI has set up a pretty neat website that features detailed descriptions of bank robberies in the Chicago area. The website is called the Bandit Tracker Chicago website. The website features details of recent bank robberies along with surveillance video and photographs from the actual robberies. The site was started last month. It was set up in conjunction with the Chicago Police Department and the Cook County Sheriff's Department.

According to the website, the highest number of bank robberies occurred in 2006 when there were 284. Last year there were 277 bank robberies. So far there have been 100 bank robberies in 2009.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense lawyers at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

CTA Crime Rates Up Drastically

The other day we posted a blog about a drop in the number of traffic deaths on Illinois roads. Today, the Chicago Sun-Times posted an article that is somewhat related to our blog. They report that from 2006 to 2008, the number of robberies reported on Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) trains, platforms and buses increased a whopping 77%. The number of thefts has increased by 6%. An example of a theft would be a pickpocket. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate in Illinois hit 9.3% and high gas prices have contributed in seeing ridership on the CTA buses and trains increasing by 6% from 2006 to 2008. Chicago police have responded to these increased numbers by conducting special undercover operations at certain high crime locations at certain peak times. The Chicago Police report that 4,933 arrests occurred in 2008 compared to 4,576 in 2007.

The reason we believe this article is related to Wednesday's post is that it illustrates how economic factors impact our travel habits. When job loses increase along with gas prices, fewer people drive their cars on the roads causing a drop in traffic deaths. Conversely, ridership on our public transportation systems increase causing an increase in crime on trains and buses.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.