Overall crime in Chicago dropped during the first eight months of the year compared to a year ago, but the number of homicides increased by one, police said Friday.
There were 319 murders through August, police said. They pointed out that although the rate of murders is basically flat from last year, there were 403 murders in the same period in 2003.
Aggravated batteries were also flat, down .5 percent over 2004. And robberies were down 1.9 percent. Aggravated assaults were down more than 7 percent, and reports of criminal sexual assault were down almost 16 percent over 2004.
Burglary was the only category of property crime to increase through August. It was up 2.6 percent. Theft was down 13.3 percent, motor vehicle theft was down 5.1 percent and arson was down 14.4 percent.
