Though most crime dropped in the western suburbs, DuPage County saw a huge increase in reported sexual assaults, according to state figures to be released Sunday.
The 41.1 percent rise in sexual assault contrasted sharply with an overall 3.3 percent decline in major crime in the county last year, according to “Crime in Illinois,” an annual report compiled by the Illinois State Police.
That increase far exceeded a 4 percent jump in rapes that the FBI reported nationwide. But local officials said it doesn’t necessarily mean there are more rapes.
“Previously, women didn’t always equate what happened to them as rape or sexual assault,” said Loren Simmons, director of women’s services for the YWCA of Metropolitan Chicago, which includes the DuPage center in Glen Ellyn. “But through the education process and outreach, they have made that connection and now are speaking out.”
In Kane County, reports of sexual assault declined by 9.3 percent, and overall major crime dropped 4.5 percent.
The state report tracks eight major crimes: murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault and battery, burglary, theft, auto 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.
DuPage County counted 10 murders in each of the last two years. So far this year, there have been two homicides, police said.
In Kane County, 27 murders were reported in 2002, compared with 17 in 2001. Among last year’s murders in the county, 24 occurred in Aurora.
Along with an additional homicide that occurred in part of Aurora in DuPage County, the state’s second-largest city logged 25 murders in 2002, compared with eight in 2001. With about 143,000 residents, the city reaches into four counties.
“We see a lot of good news in specific areas,” said Aurora Police Chief William Lawler. “But clearly there was an increase in homicides, and clearly the motives for those crimes are connected to gangs and drugs.”
Lawler said the city has conducted major gang sweeps that have eroded gang leadership. So far this year, he said, Aurora has had five murders.
The city recorded a modest 1.6 percent increase in overall crime. Robberies declined significantly, however, to 158 incidents in 2002, from 256 the previous year.
“Aurora is an urban center with some big-city problems,” Lawler said. “Just because someone has high blood pressure or has high cholesterol doesn’t mean the body is a total wreck. Our community is in good shape.”
In Naperville, the crime rate decreased by 2.6 percent last year. Burglaries rose, however, to 274 in the part of the city in DuPage County, from 203 the previous year.
Naperville Police Chief David Dial said burglaries appear to be increasing in part because people are leaving garage doors open or unlocked. “We have had people enter a home at night through an unlocked garage door, so it can be more than a minor crime,” Dial said.
In Wheaton, the overall crime rate dropped 12.8 percent last year, but reports of assault and batteries rose 55.6 percent.
“I don’t have a specific reason for the increase in assault and batteries,” said Wheaton Police Chief Mark Fields. “But I believe that because of the great improvements in medical technology, in the past, some of those may have ended up as homicides.”
The city recorded no murders in 2002, compared with one the previous year.
The number of sexual assaults reported in Wheaton declined to one in 2002, compared with five the previous year. That contrasted with many nearby communities, where reports of rape rose significantly.
Across DuPage County, the number of sexual assaults reported to police climbed to 175 in 2002, from 124 the previous year.
“The sexual assault problem remains a perplexing one to police,” Fields said. “Are there more incidents, or just better reporting?”
In suburban Cook and the collar counties, rape was up more than 10 percent, according to the state report. In the western suburbs, most officials attributed the rise to a growing willingness among victims to file a complaint.
“If there is a spike in sexual assaults, I believe it is because of better reporting, more awareness, and specifically because the investigators that handle child abuse continue to get better and better,” said DuPage County State’s Atty. Joseph Birkett. “Many of these types of cases involve multiple victims.”
The increase brought the rate of sexual assault reports to fewer than 0.2 incidents per 1,000 residents in DuPage County. That was less than half the state rate of roughly 0.5 sexual assaults per 1,000 residents in 2002.
“Even with this increase, the number of such assaults is well below any national average,” Birkett said. “We have to continue to do our work, because one sexual assault is too much.”
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
