Thread by @RBGPatronus

1/Several campaigns for municipal positions (#mayor, #citycouncil) in #Naperville are hyping rising #crime as the #1 issue. Their platforms are a solution in search of a problem. The assertion that crime is rising or prevalent in Naperville is simply NOT TRUE.

2/About to drop some stats but 1st some context for the numbers. In mid ‘21, @NapervillePD converted to a new crime data reporting system (NIBRS replaced UCR) per federal mandate. NIBRS is more comprehensive: counts up to 10 offenses per incident vs only the most serious offense;

3/in many categories NIBRS tracks the number of victims vs incidents; some crime definitions changed; NIBRS counts attempted crimes not just completed crimes. As a result, pre-July 2021 data is not comparable to post-July 2021 data and NIBRS is more encompassing (ie higher count)

4/Naperville PD published the 2022 crime & incident data for 7/1/22-12/31/22 vs 7/1/21-12/31/21… the only comparable data under NIBRS. naperville.il.us/globalassets/m…

5/guess what? Personal and property crime are down! Only 2 broad categories are up: seizure of illegal firearms (mostly discovered during traffic stops) and fleeing & eluding (City Council, including @KellyForNaper @bennynaperville) passed increased fines related to this crime

6/crimes against persons is up over the comparable period, driven by increases in simple assault & intimidation, and as noted in the overview, include domestic violence & other crimes where the perp is known to the victim - not great, but also not all random acts of violence

7/crimes against property are actually down on a net basis over the comp period, with increases in categories like theft of car parts (reflecting the tight auto supply chain) and DECREASES in more serious property crimes such as robbery, burglary, and vehicle theft

8/the last broad category is crimes against society which is down 55 incidents over the comp period, led by decreases in drug/narcotic violations

9/so no, crime is not increasing across the board and Naperville continues to be a safe community. @NapervillePD manually compiled full year 2022 data as well. We continue to see that crime is NOT a growing problem in Naperville:

10/drug overdose incidents show that in the last 4 years, prescription drugs lead in incidents; however, total incidents continues to decrease from both peak COVID and pre-COVID rates

11/the trajectory of mental health incidents have increased over the last 6 years. Both @bennynaperville and @KellyForNaper voted to add mental health resources to NPD

12/the two categories that NPD called out were firearm seizure/recoveries (over half seized during traffic stops) and fleeing & eluding (F&E). As noted previously, Benny White and Pat Kelly voted to increase fines for F&E.

13/lastly, traffic crash data shows fewer incidents in 2022 vs 2019 (pre-COVID) across property, injury, and fatality categories. The decrease in 2020 reflects the COVID lockdown and subsequent increases reflect reopening. Regardless tho, 2022 < 2019

14/to recap, Naperville is a very safe city and crime is going DOWN, not UP. This is based on NPD reported data to the federal govt. Candidates who tell voters otherwise are either ill-informed (best case) or attempting to manipulate voters with false information (worst case)

15/vote accordingly!

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