Story posted Thursday, November 5, 2009
County Rates On Rise, But Wheeling Crime Down 10%
The total crime rate for Cook County increased between 2007 and 2008, a trend reversed in Wheeling.
For the county, 2008 saw an increase of 2.4% in reported crimes including murder, criminal sexual assault, robbery, battery, burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson compared to 2007.
Of the listed offenses, murder increased 11.9% while robberies, burglaries, and thefts all went by by between 2.4% and 6.5%. The other categories decreased slightly, arson dropping the most by 7.6%. There was also a drop of 15% in drug crime arrests between the two years.
In Wheeling, the overall crime rate decreased about 10%. That included a drop in thefts from 690 to 600, a decrease in motor vehicle thefts from 27 to 24, fewer aggravated assaults and batteries that went from 39 to 23, and robberies that decreased from nine to six.
Three categories increased in rate: there were 12 criminal sexual assaults reported in 2008 compared to only seven in 2007, 2008 saw more burglaries, 130 compared to 119, and there were five arsons instead of only one.
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