Kendall County Times

James Marter, Kendall County GOP Party chairman, has criticized state leaders for the low number of arrests in the city of Chicago.

Data recently published by Wirepoints showed that for 2022 in Chicago, arrests were made in only 5% of offenses for major crimes that included murders, sexual assaults, aggravated batteries and carjackings, significantly down from the 10% that was recorded in 2019.

Marter believes crime is soaring because criminals know they won't be held accountable for their actions.

"It spells disaster when you allow criminal elements to get away and run around like that," he told the Kendall County Times. "You see it every day in the city with all the crime and mayhem being off the charts. The arrest rate is what’s driving up the crime. Right now, there is no accountability."

Marter blamed state leaders for the low numbers of arrests and accused them of trying to "decriminalize crime."

"I think it comes down to the lack of enforcement of the law, and even trying to stop the crime," he said. "We have a states' attorney that doesn’t prosecute criminals and a governor that wants cashless bail."

Marter has a simple solution to reverse the trend of soaring crime in Chicago.

"Get a prosecutor and people in the city that care about law and order," he said. "it’s as simple as having the right people in the right positions."

The data by Wirepoints showed that arrest rates varied by the type of “major crime,” based on the seven categories that cities have long reported to the federal government. Chicago’s homicide arrest rate was down 5% to 29% in 2022, and 13% lower than 2020's 41%.

The highest arrest rate within thefts in 2022 was 16% for the nearly 9,000 retail thefts. That meant more than four of five retail thieves in Chicago escaped any semblance of justice. The nearly 20,000 thefts “over $500” resulted in arrests just 15% of the time, and the nearly 19,000 thefts “$500 and under” led to arrests in just 1.6% of cases. For the almost 5,000 “thefts from a building,” the arrest rate was 0.5%.