Number Games

Shootings are down, and there are a few readers who point out that's the only stat Rahm cares about. The trouble is the folks (or people) affected, aren't likely to vote for Rahm this time around. So who's left?

That would be the people who don't experience homicides on a regular basis - but they might notice a triple-digit increase in things that DO affect them:

• While gun violence continues to decline throughout Chicago in 2018 — homicides have dropped by 17 percent since last year and shooting victims have decreased by nearly 30 percent — some of the city’s more touristy, trendy and affluent areas, particularly downtown, have seen an alarming spike in robberies.
  
  Through nearly the first three months of 2018, 86 robberies were reported in the Loop, the highest first-quarter tally in at least 15 years, according to city crime data through March 21. Through the same period last year, 49 robberies were reported in the Loop compared with 52 in 2016, 33 in 2015 and 20 in 2014.
  
  [...]
  
  What’s more, the Near North Side — which includes downtown areas like the Magnificent Mile, Gold Coast and River North — has also seen a spike in robberies, with 73 through March 21. That’s the most robberies in Near North since it recorded 75 during the same period in 2011, data show. In Lincoln Park, a well-to-do community that includes the Old Town Triangle, 25 robberies were reported through March 21 compared with 13 last year.

Rahm is walking a tightrope and failing miserably. He strips the police protection from "quiet" areas to tamp down the usual trouble spots - 011 and 007 have something like 400-450 cops each. So where do you think the thug population goes to? Maybe somewhere like....019?

• Calls for police service in the 19th (Town Hall) Police District grew into “backlogs” 239 times last year, according to newly-released city data. By comparison, in the 56 months between January 2011 and August 2015, the district had just 167 backlogs. The district is the 10th largest in the city by square mileage and ranks #2 for population, according to the Chicago Office of the Inspector General.
  
  [...]
  
  After failing to fulfill a promise to maintain a manpower level of at least 376 cops in the 19th District, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is now saying that he will return the district to manpower levels seen in 2011. Doing that will require the addition of 98 officers to the district with more officers brought in to replace every current cop who retires, quits, or transfers. It’s a tall order for a mayor who has broken a much easier manpower promise.

Hiring still isn't keeping pace with attrition. The CWB article linked above has a couple of graphs showing exactly how badly Rahm is failing. Go read it all.