Explore The NRA Universe Of Websites

APPEARS IN Legal & Legislation

Chicago Crime Alerts – Pernicious Perception or an Inconvenient Truth?

Monday, June 10, 2024

Chicago Crime Alerts – Pernicious Perception or an Inconvenient Truth?

Earlier this year, Chicago city council member Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth made steering-wheel locks available for free to interested residents. The message she shared was that “[s]afety is a top priority for our office. We believe that everyone deserves to live in a safe and healthy neighborhood: a goal that we’re working to achieve through both individual action such as protecting your vehicle and community action ...”

The commitment to public safety “as a top priority for our office” also featured at the start of a May 29 blog post in which the alderman, “a progressive Democrat” who represents Chicago’s 48th ward, advised that she had stopped posting crime alerts online and had changed her default crime alert emails for constituents, as this conflicted with “values of empowerment, antiracism, and community.” Constituents who wished to continue receiving her crime alerts would have to affirmatively “opt in.”

The blog post about the change explains that “our office’s commitment to public safety” requires communication “methods that align with our 48th ward mission statement and values” (namely, “empowerment, antiracism, community, service, and joy”). As further support for the new policy, the blog cites “research from recent years that shows how over-reporting of crime leads to an inaccurate public perception about violent crime rates and negatively impacts our most marginalized and underserved neighbors” (emphasis in original). 

According to local news source CWB Chicago, the blog post’s original research link took readers to a 2018 University of Tehran study titled, The U.S. Media’s Effect on Public’s Crime Expectations: A Cycle of Cultivation and Agenda-Setting Theory. (The gist is that “despite actual crime rates having decreased in the U.S., people’s fear of crime has in fact increased. This article will discuss the media and its coverage of crime topics, especially in news programs, as one of the key causes of such existing contradictions within U.S. society.”). Interestingly, it seems that at some point the Tehran study link was removed and replaced with an opinion piece on how mainstream media distort crime reporting by focusing on violent crime (“…imagine if every single city code violation was covered on the nightly news in the way that carjackings were and framed as a crime.”).

The alderman urged constituents looking for general public safety information about Ward 48 to contact the Chicago Police Department’s (CPD) Districts 20 and 24 or, in the case of a “business owner seeking more public safety information, reach out to your chamber of commerce.” 

Those who take the time to visit the CPD website and examine the latest police crime statistics for Police Districts 24 and 20 (where the alderman’s office is located) will discover that Ward 48 crime is far from a figment of “over-reporting” and “inaccurate public perception.” Contrary to the alderman’s justifications, fear of increased crime in her ward is much more likely to correspond, truthfully, to skyrocketing crime rates.

Compared to the previous three post-pandemic years, as of June 02, 2024, District 24 has experienced a 109% increase in overall reported major crimes, including a 67% spike in murders, 39% in robberies, and 33% in aggravated batteries, all capped with a 270% increase in motor vehicle thefts. The situation is even more demoralizing for residents of District 20. This year, as compared to 2021 through 2023, District 20 experienced an overall 135% increase in reported major crimes, with every listed category of major crime showing double- or triple-digit hikes. Murders and aggravated batteries both increased by 100%, criminal sexual assaults increased by 60%, robberies increased by 29%, and there was a staggering 586% increase in motor vehicle thefts (which certainly explains the steering-wheel locks giveaway).    

Writing about Manaa-Hoppenworth’s decision to stop sharing crime reports, CWB Chicago dug deeper into historical crime statistics and points out that “[y]ear-to-date shooting incidents in the 48th ward are at the highest level since 2015,” the number of robberies as of May 13 are “the highest number of year-to-date robberies since 2012,” and “[a]lso at the highest level in her ward since at least 2012 are criminal sexual assaults.” In the words of CWB Chicago, “Do you know what else leads to a perception of high crime rates? High crime.”

None of this makes for comfortable reading. Manaa-Hoppenworth’s office acknowledges as much, indicating that her crime alerts are “potentially traumatic.” The alderman’s facile solution (much like those steering-wheel locks) is to mute the information, rather than address what is for-real traumatizing – the runaway crime in her ward and across Chicago. Despite all of the switched-on political rhetoric about public safety, “empowerment,” and how everyone “deserves to live in a safe and healthy neighborhood,” Manaa-Hoppenworth’s focus here is on the presentation, not the difficult problem.

And how “empowering” can it be to live in a community whose elected representative opts to withhold information on crime? Residents already know what “public safety” as a “highest priority” looks like in the Windy City. Given the crime reports out of Chicago, the “most marginalized and underserved neighbors” that Manaa-Hoppenworth fears will be traumatized by overwrought public perceptions and crime messaging are justifiably more concerned with being oppressed by actual criminals.

IN THIS ARTICLE
Chicago crime gun control
TRENDING NOW
Declassified Document: Biden-Harris Administration Targeted Gun Owners and Second Amendment Rights Under “Domestic Terrorism” Pretext

News  

Monday, April 21, 2025

Declassified Document: Biden-Harris Administration Targeted Gun Owners and Second Amendment Rights Under “Domestic Terrorism” Pretext

On April 16, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard made good on a promise to expose the ways in which the Biden administration had weaponized the federal government against its political adversaries by releasing the Biden-era “Strategic Implementation Plan ...

Federal Court in Massachusetts Enforces Range Access Statute in Pathbreaking Case

News  

Monday, April 21, 2025

Federal Court in Massachusetts Enforces Range Access Statute in Pathbreaking Case

It has happened before in Massachusetts: A small, hardy band of armed Americans faces off against elements of the most powerful military in the world and commits a revolutionary act that paves the way for ...

DOJ Drops Controversial NFA Charge Against Pardoned Jan. 6 Protestor

News  

Monday, April 21, 2025

DOJ Drops Controversial NFA Charge Against Pardoned Jan. 6 Protestor

Last February, NRA-ILA’s reporting exposed the case of Taylor Taranto, a pardoned January 6 protestor separately arrested on firearm charges in Washington, D.C. 

Trump Administration Revives Federal Firearm Rights Restoration Provision

News  

Friday, March 21, 2025

Trump Administration Revives Federal Firearm Rights Restoration Provision

On March 20, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) published an interim final rule entitled, Withdrawing the Attorney General’s Delegation of Authority. That bland title belies the historic nature of the measure, which is aimed at reviving ...

Germany Strips “Extremist” AfD Members, Supporters of Gun Licenses, Guns

News  

Monday, April 14, 2025

Germany Strips “Extremist” AfD Members, Supporters of Gun Licenses, Guns

It’s been only a few years since the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution calling the NRA a “domestic terrorist organization.” 

Canadian Appeals Court Upholds 2020 Gun Bans – “Reasonable” and “Rationally Connected to a Legitimate Objective”

News  

Monday, April 21, 2025

Canadian Appeals Court Upholds 2020 Gun Bans – “Reasonable” and “Rationally Connected to a Legitimate Objective”

On March 9, when Mark Carney was selected to replace Justin Trudeau as Canada’s Prime Minister and the new Liberal Party leader, he ignored the opportunity the situation presented to jettison his predecessor’s useless and expensive “assault-style ...

Trump DOJ Creates Second Amendment Task Force to Undo Damage of Biden Era

News  

Monday, April 14, 2025

Trump DOJ Creates Second Amendment Task Force to Undo Damage of Biden Era

Last week, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) formally announced the creation of a Second Amendment Task Force with Attorney General Pam Bondi declaring, “It is the policy of the Department of Justice to use its full ...

Vermont: Committee Approves Burlington Gun Ban

Monday, April 21, 2025

Vermont: Committee Approves Burlington Gun Ban

On Friday, April 18, the Vermont Senate Government Operations Committee approved S. 131, a change to the Burlington City Charter that would allow the city to ban firearms in establishments that serve alcohol.

Legal Update: April 2025 Litigation Update

Monday, April 21, 2025

Legal Update: April 2025 Litigation Update

In the first quarter of 2025, the National Rifle Association filed three new lawsuits and five amicus briefs, while continuing to litigate dozens of ongoing lawsuits across the country.

Washington: Permit to Purchase Bill Passes Senate

Tuesday, April 15, 2025

Washington: Permit to Purchase Bill Passes Senate

On Monday, April 14th, the Senate passed House Bill 1163, the permit-to-purchase scheme, along party lines. It will now return to the House for concurrence with amendments made in the Senate. NRA members must urge ...

MORE TRENDING +
LESS TRENDING -

More Like This From Around The NRA

NRA ILA

Established in 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) is the "lobbying" arm of the National Rifle Association of America. ILA is responsible for preserving the right of all law-abiding individuals in the legislative, political, and legal arenas, to purchase, possess and use firearms for legitimate purposes as guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.