Quote:
Originally Posted by pip
I get that there are many cities in the same boat but I have always thought of Chicago as a Tier 1 city above those. But I got to tell you with 5,6,7, i forget which, people shot so far this year nearby my place in Lakeview, in addition to reports of shots fired a lot, then fights fights and fights - I hear them at night on Broadway, groups of people fighting, last weekend a block away the fights got so bad they called in assistance from other districts but couldn't get enough manpower. The CTA is a hooka lounge now. Two people were robbed a block away the other night at 11:30pm and badly beaten - this is all the time. And then the cars and bikes with no mufflers racing around lakeview all night. There is very little good news no matter what the topic. It's just too much.
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I'm not going to lie, even though I lived here for awhile before the media and apps like Twitter and Citizen made me question whether I should live in certain areas or hang out in them upon moving back. Before we moved, for a long time actually, I was looking at Twitter, various outposts, Citizen, etc. Especially as we secured a place I started honing in on Citizen in that area. When I moved back here, same thing and I noticed my mental health as a result was suffering a bit. A bit later, I stopped opening up those things as much as started living my life (especially since we were juggling a lot back then)
Let's think back even 5 years ago. Citizen was not a thing, at least in Chicago. Outposts like CWB had way less followers (it was their infancy I think 5 or 6 years ago). Most people typically relied on the major news for the events, or their friends, or maybe one of the unlucky few who had it happen to them or witnessed it.
With that being said, there's a ton of nuance to what's going on right now and most people are not actually telling the whole truth (does nuance "sell"? Probably not). Anyone saying "crime is up!" or "crime is down!" without actually going into which type and where has probably either not given it much though or trying to sell a specific narrative. This goes for the government and media alike.
We have to keep all of the above in mind, and be smart about things instead of falling prey to those who are using every single one of us for their agendas one way or another. There are a lot of partial truths being spewed out there in the ether.
Here's a few example of absolute truths:
1) Shootings are up in downtown and have bled into a few other parts of the city.
2) Homicides are up a lot
3) Carjackings are up a lot
Here's a few examples of things more nuanced:
1) Violent crime (homicide, robbery, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, and rape) incidents in The Loop and Near North Side combined in 2021 were actually lower than they were in 2019, slightly. However, violent crimes where a gun was present is up a lot compared to 2019. However this is still lower in terms of total incidents (and of course rate) than 20 years ago when downtown had many less people.
Nuance here is that it depends on what type of crime you're talking about and even the characteristic of how it was. Violent crime being down in this area is a truth, but so is the fact that shootings are up and crimes with a gun are up even while total violent crime is less. More people weren't robbed necessarily but perhaps more robberies were committed in the presence of a gun.
2) Carjackings are a type of robbery. There were 102 fewer robberies in Near North Side+The Loop in 2021 than there were in 2019. There were, however, 43 more carjackings in 2021 than 2019. I hate to call it a fad, but there were less people being robbed in these 2 areas than even 2019, but there was a crazy increase of carjackings. Carjackings made up 8.85% of all robberies in 2021 but only 1.2% in 2019. This is a crazy increase but still relatively small. Does robberies being less in 2021 than 2019 but carjacking way up indicate that criminals are probably realizing that robbing cars might further advance various things for them better than just someone's wallet? Just my theory. There's a nuance - more people in some areas aren't necessarily being robbed but perhaps an uptick in those who are robbed violently while in their cars (still a relatively low percentage of the overall robbery picture).
Also interestingly, the number of carjackings in the city in 2001 and 2002 was nearly identical to 2020. Unfortunately 2021 was more. Still interesting though that 20 years ago this type of crime was "in".
3) In the news in the last month have been a few muggings, robberies, etc in Lincoln Park. What's the truth - is it much higher, or even any higher than years past? Not really. I'm not sure what the deal with 2021 was but here's thru 6/15 of each year for robberies in Lincoln Park
2022: 52 robberies thru 6/15
2021: 26
2020: 48
2019: 49
2018: 64
2017: 54
2016: 59
2015: 45
2014: 47
2013: 51
2012: 51
2011: 77
2010: 59
2009: 76
2008: 76
2007: 75
2006: 72
2005: 56
2004: 75
2003: 84
Minus the weird number of 2021, the number for 2022 is pretty much in range of most years especially between 2010 and 2020.
My suggestion is, especially if you live in the city - try and live like you did 5 or 10 years ago before everyone had news in their phone going off 24/7 down to a micro level and making every extremely afraid. Try it for a week or 2 and take note of your mental state after it.
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