From Lake Forest to Evanston, the already low number of crimes in the North Shore fell even lower, according to state figures to be released Sunday.
One exception was Skokie, where police logged 4.7 percent more crime in 2002. But even there, a sense of security played a role in the increase, police said.
“People feel safe living in this community, and that’s good. But they tend to leave their garage doors open when they’re working in their yards,” said Barry Silverberg, Skokie’s acting police chief.
A rash of garage burglaries contributed to the village’s increased crime, Silverberg said.
Criminologists have long espoused the “broken window” theory that crime flourishes where disorderly behavior goes unchecked. Along the orderly North Shore, the reverse holds true.
“People in solid middle class neighborhoods tend to place a lot of emphasis on maintaining their property, and they know who lives in the neighborhood,” said Arthur Lurigio, chairman of Loyola University’s criminal justice department. “If they see a car that’s strange to them that’s been sitting in one place, they’ll call the police. If they see kids on the block causing trouble or potentially causing trouble, they’ll intervene personally or call the police.”
The results are evident in the Illinois State Police annual “Crime in Illinois” report, officials said. It is compiled with figures provided by local police departments. The report tracks eight major crimes: murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault and battery, burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson.
Police in Illinois and nationwide keep statistics on these crimes because they view them as the most serious and the most likely to be reported. The tally of such crimes in the state declined to 518,404 in 2002, from 526,475 in 2001.
Deerfield, Evanston, Glencoe, Lake Forest, Niles, Wilmette and Winnetka all saw reports of crime fall in 2002. Glenview and Highland Park remained virtually constant, with negligible increases.
One of the steeper drops was recorded in Lake Forest, where 23.5 percent fewer crimes were reported in 2002. The city of roughly 20,000 people recorded eight burglaries all year, and no murders or robberies. Its single largest category of crime–theft–declined by 19 percent, to 124 incidents.
“We had a fairly quiet year,” said Lake Forest Deputy Police Chief Patricia Lord.
Skokie’s uptick in crime came after years of declines in reports of crime. Despite the rise in 2002, the total number of crimes reported–2,549–was the second-lowest recorded in seven years, Silverberg said.
“Our numbers jumped a little higher, but they’re not raising any significant alarms with us,” Silverberg said.
“Our crime trends–we look at three- and five-year patterns–are not going through the roof.”
Skokie reported 446 burglaries in 2002, a 26 percent increase from 2001. Among the 90 burglaries reported last summer, 84 were thefts from sheds or garages, according to Skokie police.
The village recorded 41 robberies in 2002, a 52 percent jump over the previous year. That category was driven up by a handful of purse-snatchers, Silverberg said. Those responsible were identified and arrested, he said.
The village recorded one murder in 2002, compared with none in 2001. Day-care provider Gary Lin Graham was accused of suffocating 13-month-old Jordan Elizabeth Bowering at a home day-care center Graham and his wife ran. His murder charge is pending, officials said.
In Evanston, police recorded increases in aggravated assault, robbery and burglary, but those numbers were offset by reductions in property crime.
Overall, the number of crimes in Evanston remained nearly the same.
Between 1997 and 2002, the number of major crimes reported in Evanston has fallen by 42 percent, said Police Chief Frank Kaminski.
The latest tally–4,436 major crimes in 2002–is the lowest since 1972, he said.
“Crime right now is the lowest it’s been since I could find numbers,” Kaminski said.
Evanston recorded 171 aggravated assaults and batteries in 2002, an 18 percent increase.
“A lot of that was related to [domestic violence],” Kaminski said of the increase.
“When you have a poor economy, people do get tense. Things get a little more tense at home.”
There were two murders in Evanston in 2002, just as the year before. In the 1970s, Evanston saw an average of 4.5 murders per year, police said.
Two people were arrested in connection with what Kaminski described as a gang-related shooting of a 21-year-old woman in May 2002. No arrests have been made in the shooting death of a 19-year-old Chicagoan in Evanston in 2002.
In Glencoe, the arrests of a few career thieves, may have contributed to a 12 percent drop in reports of crime, said Mikel Milks, Glencoe’s director of public safety.
Reported crime in the six-county area
The number of serious crimes reported in 2001 and 2002, according to the Illinois State Police:
%%
CITY OF SUBURBAN DUPAGE
CHICAGO COOK COUNTY
2002 population (est) 2,896,016 2,480,727 904,161
Crime rate per 1,000 67.0 36.4 24.9
Reported crimes (2001) 199,832 91,756 23,272
Reported crimes (2002) 194,184 90,347 22,493
Change in number of crimes, 2001-2002 -2.8% -1.5% -3.3%
KANE LAKE MCHENRY WILL
COUNTY COUNTY COUNTY COUNTY
2002 population 404,119 644,356 260,077 502,266
Crime rate per 1,000 31.4 24.5 22.7 27.7
Reported crimes (2001) 13,283 15,625 5,950 14,144
Reported crimes (2002) 12,680 15,788 5,896 13,930
Change in number of crimes, 2001-2002 -4.5% NA* -0.9% -1.5%
CITY OF CHICAGO SUBURBAN COOK
2001 2002 2001 2002
Murder 665 648 92 81
Criminal sexual assault 1,976 1,963 636 708
Robbery 18,473 18,532 2,259 2,411
Aggr. assault/battery 25,571 24,842 4,843 4,216
Burglary 26,026 25,552 12,635 13,261
Theft 98,544 96,380 61,803 60,814
Motor vehicle theft 27,571 25,245 9,056 8,443
Arson 1,006 1,022 432 413
A. Murder
B. Criminal sexual assault
C. Robbery
D. Aggr. assault/battery
E. Burglary
F. Theft
G. Motor vehicle theft
H. Arson
DUPAGE COUNTY KANE COUNTY LAKE COUNTY MCHENRY COUNTY WILL COUNTY
2001 2002 2001 2002 2001* 2002 2001 2002 2001 2002
A. 10 10 17 27 18 8 3 3 9 15
B. 124 175 162 147 173 208 75 70 166 173
C. 267 217 409 279 225 296 23 29 351 275
D. 842 842 991 847 655 931 324 303 1,244 1,044
E. 2,421 2,462 2,198 1,982 1,854 2,064 672 799 2,165 2,245
F. 18,413 17,667 8,697 8,720 11,969 11,419 4,677 4,519 9,177 9,249
G. 1,030 962 724 594 653 787 149 128 910 771
H. 165 158 85 84 78 75 27 45 122 158
%% *Numbers are subject to change. Due to a North Chicago Police Department computer error, the 2001 totals for Lake County did not include most of the crimes reported in North Chicago. North Chicago accounted for 8 percent of crimes in Lake County in 2002.
Source: Illinois State Police
Chicago Tribune
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Find the crime statistics for your city and county in the 11-county northeastern Illinois region at chicagotribune.com/crime
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