Crime and Community Policing by the Numbers

Crime Waves
Community policing was introduced in Englewood and four other pilot districts in 1993, and expanded citywide in the fall of 1994. While crime in the pilot districts declined 4 percent from 1993 to 1995, other districts posted a 5.8 percent drop. In Englewood, crime fell 10.6 percent in the three years leading up to community policing but rose 3.3 percent in the program’s first three years. Crime dropped 5.1 percent from 1996 to 1998.

Crime by Beat
Crimes in the Englewood Police District decreased by 3.7 percent from 1993, when community policing began, to 1998. The largest decrease—nearly 47 percent—came in Beat 715, which had the fewest crimes in 1998. Beat 725 saw a 13.2 percent increase from 1993 to 1998, and in 1998 suffered more crimes than any of the district’s other 14 beats.

Deadly Ranking
Among Chicago’s 25 police districts, the Englewood District ranked in the top three in murders throughout the 1990s. From 1990 to 1998, Englewood recorded 665 murders—twice the city’s per-district average.

High Exposure
In 1992, half the 203 students surveyed at an Englewood high school reported they saw family members or friends stabbed, shot or killed. Nearly 47 percent said they had been shot at themselves.