Tougher economic times in some Lake County communities in 2001 may help explain an unusual increase in murders and domestic crime, even as reports of crime statewide declined for the seventh consecutive year, police officials said.
“The economy took a downturn,” said Lake Villa Police Chief Roger Visconti, whose community saw a big jump in reports of assault and battery. “And you usually start to see an increase in crime when the economy takes a nosedive.”
The annual state crime report, released Sunday by the Illinois State Police, shows that the crime rate countywide dropped 4.7 percent, to an average of 24.5 crimes reported per 1,000 people in 2001, from 25.7 in 2000.
But there were more than twice as many Lake County murders in 2001 than in 2000, and reports of domestic crime rose by 5.9 percent.
The report tracks eight major crimes: murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault and battery, burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson. The number of such crimes reported statewide declined to 524,386 in 2001, compared with 540,183 in 2000, according to the report.
The decrease was led by a drop in property crimes, which account for most reported offenses.
The good news was tempered by the increase in murders, which jumped in Lake County from seven in 2000 to 18 in 2001, a level not seen since the mid-1990s. Reports of robbery, sexual assault and thefts declined.
At least one-third of Lake County’s murders last year involved women who prosecutors believe were killed during acts of domestic violence. In three other murders in 2001, prosecutors say the victims were infants killed by family or friends.
“Most homicides in some way or another have been reflective of a domestic situation,” said Lt. Lou Tessman, commander of Lake County’s Major Crime Task Force, which handles many of the murder cases.
The reported increase in domestic violence was “significant and disturbing,” said Lake County State’s Atty. Michael Waller.
Some police departments attribute the drop in the overall crime rate partly to renewed efforts to deal with minor offenses.
In Waukegan, for example, where the crime rate dropped 13 percent from 2000 to 2001, Lt. Wayne Hunter credits his department’s “nuisance-abatement unit,” launched in September 2000. The emphasis is on zero tolerance, he said.
The unit is empowered by state law and by a recently enacted local ordinance to inspect buildings and push landlords to either evict problem tenants, clean up their property, or risk losing it in a civil lawsuit filed by the city.
Many residents support this approach. Roxanne Swanson, 41, who lives on Waukegan’s north side, said the unit provided assistance with one difficult resident who was involved with gangs.
“I think it’s an excellent idea,” Swanson said. “They said they’d be out here more, and they have been. Using the courts [to push landlords into actions] is just another tool, but it’s a really good tool.”
The unit has closed businesses, forced some landlords to evict tenants, and persuaded others to make changes without going to court.
“The word is getting out, and owners of properties are realizing they can’t say to their tenants: `I don’t care what you’re doing, just pay me the rent,'” said nuisance abatement Officer Eric Deveau.
Lake County’s multi-jurisdictional drug-enforcement group made more drug arrests last year than in 2000, but drug arrests countywide declined 7.5 percent in 2001 from 2000, officials said.
Terry Lemming, the group’s director, attributed the decline to better drug education in grade schools.
“We have conducted over 100 seminars targeting grade school to college kids,” he said. “Our experiences show us that grade school kids are more susceptible to drug use than previously thought.”
The state crime report is based on numbers reported by local police agencies, but in some cases, officials acknowledge the data can be flawed. In North Chicago, for example, a computer-coding error caused the crime rate to be underreported, officials said.
In 2000 and 2001, the economically depressed community was one of the leaders in Lake County in violent crimes. Its five murder cases in 2001 were the most of any community in the county. But because of the computer error, North Chicago appears in the state crime report to have one of the county’s lowest crime rates, with an average of 6.3 crimes reported per 1,000 residents. This was the second-lowest rate in the county after Hawthorn Woods, where the rate was 6 crimes per 1,000 residents.
North Chicago Deputy Police Chief Tony Theis said his department realized when the statistics for 2000 came out last year that it had been using the wrong code for most crimes, and that the error was causing incorrect data to be sent to the state police.
“We’re watching it more closely now,” he said.
Theis said the department corrected the problem late last year, and the numbers should more accurately reflect crimes reported in 2002.
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Capt. Dave Sanders, state police spokesman, said analysts would review North Chicago’s numbers, but he said the town’s error was an anomaly.
“We believe the data [from the annual report] to be reliable, and it accurately gives a picture of crime trends in Illinois,” he said.
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Reported crime in the six-county area
The number of serious crimes reported in 2000 and 2001, according to the Illinois State Police.
%% CITY OF CHICAGO
2001 population (est.) 2,896,016
Crime rate per 1,000 68.6
Reported crimes (2000) 213,765
(2001) 198,694
Change in number
of crimes, 2000-2001 -7.1%
2000 2001
Murder 631 666
Criminal sexual assault 2,001 1,902
Robbery 19,345 18,433
Aggr. assault/battery 26,545 25,533
Burglary 28,327 25,966
Theft 106,127 97,496
Motor vehicle theft 29,727 27,694
Arson 1,062 1,004
SUBURBAN COOK
2001 population (est.) 2,480,727
Crime rate per 1,000 37.2
Reported crimes (2000) 93,134
(2001) 92,169
Change in number
of crimes, 2000-2001 -1.0%
2000 2001
Murder 80 92
Criminal sexual assault 645 640
Robbery 2,251 2,262
Aggr. assault/battery 4,968 5,141
Burglary 12,978 12,667
Theft 62,317 61,872
Motor vehicle theft 9,484 9,058
Arson 411 437
DUPAGE COUNTY
2001 population (est.) 904,161
Crime rate per 1,000 25.6
Reported crimes (2000) 22,957
(2001) 23,101
Change in number
of crimes, 2000-2001 +0.6%
2000 2001
Murder 0 10
Criminal sexual assault 145 118
Robbery 200 265
Aggr. assault/battery 914 831
Burglary 2,900 2,418
Theft 17,587 18,266
Motor vehicle theft 1,072 1,027
Arson 139 166
KANE COUNTY
2001 population (est.) 404,119
Crime rate per 1,000 32.9
Reported crimes (2000) 13,597
(2001) 13,283
Change in number
of crimes, 2000-2001 -2.3%
2000 2001
Murder 19 19
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Criminal sexual assault 111 162
Robbery 360 409
Aggr. assault/battery 963 992
Burglary 2,222 2,198
Theft 9,064 8,698
Motor vehicle theft 763 720
Arson 95 85
LAKE COUNTY
2001 population (est.) 644,356
Crime rate per 1,000 24.5
Reported crimes (2000) 16,569
(2001) 15,796
Change in number
of crimes, 2000-2001 -4.7%
2000 2001
Murder 7 18
Criminal sexual assault 178 172
Robbery 235 225
Aggr. assault/battery 861 836
Burglary 2,152 1,852
Theft 12,302 11,971
Motor vehicle theft 736 648
Arson 98 74
MCHENRY COUNTY
2001 population (est.) 260,077
Crime rate per 1,000 22.9
Reported crimes (2000) 5,541
(2001) 5,962
Change in number
of crimes, 2000-2001 +7.6%
2000 2001
Murder 1 3
Criminal sexual assault 80 78
Robbery 34 24
Aggr. assault/battery 275 324
Burglary 602 671
Theft 4,336 4,677
Motor vehicle theft 176 156
Arson 37 29
WILL COUNTY
2001 population (est.) 502,266
Crime rate per 1,000 28.0
Reported crimes (2000) 14,106
(2001) 14,086
Change in number
of crimes, 2000-2001 -0.1%
2000 2001
Murder 19 9
Criminal sexual assault 156 162
Robbery 328 354
Aggr. assault/battery 1,999 1,245
Burglary 2,346 2,164
Theft 8,969 9,125
Motor vehicle theft 929 907
Arson 160 120
Note: Numbers are subject to change.
Source: Illinois State Police.
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