Robberies were down 19 percent citywide this year, Chicago police announced Thursday, saying that the drop in crime marked an 18-year low in 10 police districts.
Authorities credited the decrease in robberies in part to a "targeted robbery suppression campaign centered around the holidays," CPD spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement. Guglielmi said the department's robbery teams consist of plainclothes officers "focused on areas that have been historical hot spots for robberies."
So far in 2018, the city has seen 9,458 robberies, according to police - a change from the 11,653 reported by this time in 2017.
Robberies reached their lowest point since 2000 in 10 districts: 2nd District - Wentworth, 3rd District - Grand Crossing, 4th District - South Chicago, 5th District - Calumet, 6th District - Gresham, 7th District - Englewood, 9th District - Deering, 10th District - Ogden, 14th District - Logan Square and 22nd District - Morgan Park, according to police.
Murders have dropped 15 percent since last year as well, down to 555 from 654 by this time in 2017, according to CPD. However, police statistics show that this year's figure is still a 35 percent increase from four years ago, when the city saw 410 murders in 2014.
Reports of criminal sexual assaults increased by 7 percent over last year, according to police, with 2,115 reported in 2018 so far, compared to 1,979 in 2017.
Chicago police said significant progress has been made on several fronts - but made it clear they were aware that more work was ahead to make neighborhoods safer.
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CPD was scheduled to officially announce this year's citywide crime statistics at a news conference at 11 a.m.
