Program Evaluation Summary

              Community Policing in Chicago,
Years Eight and Nine
Vol. 1, No. 1 February 2003
Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority
Program Evaluation
Summary
This is the seventh report examining Chicago’s
community policing program, Chicago’s Alterna-tive
Policing Strategy, or CAPS. This summary
report presents an overview of evaluation efforts since
the release of the Chicago Community Policing Evalua-tion
Consortium’s last report in November 2000.1
Trends in crime
Since 1991 there has been a steady decline in virtually
every crime category in Chicago. The largest decline
has been in robbery, which dropped by 58 percent
between 1991 and 2001. Robberies with a gun went
down by 62 percent, while those involving some other
weapon (or none at all) went down by less – 55
percent. Serious assault and battery declined by 40
percent. Gun-related assaults went down a bit faster,
as did assaults in domestic situations. On the other
hand, gang-related assault did not decline at all. In the
property crime category, motor vehicle theft was down
by 42 percent. Burglary went down 50 percent, and
simple property thefts declined 26 percent over the
same period. While crime rates were dropping nation-ally
during the same period, the drop in crime in
Chicago was noticeably greater in most categories.
The exception to this is the murder rate.
Chicago’s homicide rate declined more slowly than it
did for the nation as a whole: the local murder rate
dropped by 31 percent, while the national rate dropped
by 41 percent. The year 2001 also saw an actual
increase in the city’s murder total, from 631 to 666
cases, before it dropped again to 600 in 2002. Over
time, the ability of Chicago police to solve the murders
that do occur has declined as well. Murders have
become more closely associated with gang activity and
drug markets, and those types of murders tend to be
more difficult to solve.
Since 1991, crime has declined in almost all areas
of the city, but it has declined most dramatically in
The Chicago Community Policing Evaluation Consortium is coordinated by the Institute for Policy Research,
Northwestern University. It also includes faculty and students from the University of Illinois at Chicago. The
Consortium is supported by grants from the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority.
1 The full 2002 report and copies of earlier reports can
be found at the Institute for Policy Research website
(www.Northwestern.edu/IPR/policing.html) or they can be
requested from the Illinois Criminal Justice Information
Authority.
Rod R. Blagojevich, Governor
Candice M. Kane, Executive Director
120 S. Riverside Plaza, Suite 1016
Chicago, Illinois 60606
Phone: 312-793-8550, TDD: 312-793-4170,
Fax: 312-793-8422
website: www.icjia.state.il.us
Program Evaluation Summaries are derived from program
evaluations funded or conducted by the Authority. The full
evaluation reports are available from the Authority.
For more information about this or other publications from
the Authority, please contact the Authority’s Criminal
Justice Information Clearinghouse at or visit our website.
Printed by authority of the State of Illinois, February 2003.
Printing order #03-182.
Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority
Prepared by the Chicago Community Policing Evaluation Consortium