Serious crimes in Elgin increased slightly in 2023, but gunfire incidents were down 10% compared to 2022 and the overall crime rate continued its decades-long decrease, according to the Elgin Police Department’s 2023 annual report.
Crimes against people, property and society, which include murder, aggravated assault, sex offenses, and drug and narcotics violations, climbed from 4,180 in 2022 to 4,254 last year, data released Thursday shows.
There were five homicides, two of which remain without charges and under investigation, Police Chief Ana Lalley said. There also were small increases in simple assault, forgery, drug/narcotics and theft last year.
While crimes in this category were higher in 2023, the city continued a 50-plus-year drop in overall crime, department crime analyst Ryan Drake said. Crime was 24% higher in 2013 than what was reported in 2023, he said.
Last year, robberies reported were at an all-time low and burglary offenses were at their second lowest level in five years, Drake said.
Elgin saw a 10% decrease — from 58 to 52 — in the number of gunfire incidents year to year, he said.
The highest figure was 66 in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data. Of this year’s cases, the department was able to close 16 cases and seize 107 firearms, the report says.
An estimated 17% of the gun incidents involved gang members, 39% were believed to have possible gang involvement, 40% were undetermined and 4% were non-gang-associated, Drake said.
The data “gives more insight or clarity into what the city is experiencing,” Lalley said.
Reducing gunfire incidents has been one of the department’s goals for the last few years and continues into the new year, Lalley said. The department is finalizing an agreement with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, and Explosives to assign an officer to a special task force with the federal agency.
“We’re excited for the partnership,” she said. “We want to send a message to the community that we are serious about reducing gunfire incidents.”
The police department made 2,328 arrests in 2023, an increase of 8.7% over the previous year. Of that number, 96 involved a situation in which officers met with some type of resistance and needed to escalate their response, sometimes requiring physical force, data showed. Such cases were down by 9.4% from 2022.
The department also received 52,551 calls via 911, handled 1,578 investigations and solved 706 cases, numbers show.
Its Digital Forensics division conducted 220 examinations and its Technical Investigations Unit was assigned 1,833 cases from which they recovered digital evidence, according to the report.
The traffic division conducted 254 hit-and-run investigations, issued 16,394 parking tickets, and handled 3,624 accidents, 473 of which involved a visible injury or a death.
Emergency calls involving someone facing a mental health crisis continued to increase year to year, with 1,314 in 2023 compared to 1,218 in 2022. The department’s Collaborative Crisis Service Unit conducted 1,460 follow-up visits for people with mental health concerns, housing needs or issues with substance abuse.
While overdoses handled by the department decreased last year, the number of fatal overdoses increased by 29%. About 76% involved opioids like fentanyl.
Making crime data available on the department’s online dashboard helps keep residents informed of what’s happening in town, Lalley said, but it can also give the perception that Elgin is not safe — something they hope these numbers will show as not true.
“Once people see the data and have information about what’s going on, they can do their own analysis,” she said. “Our job is to give them the data.”
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
