Chicago Homicides Now Over 500 In 2012?

The weather here in Chicago was pretty nice this weekend considering the time of year it is. Even dropped by the Pickwick Restaurant in nearby Park Ridge for banana splits with the girlfriend before picking up holiday cards a couple doors down (they now have cards for mail/delivery people from the dog- too funny).

And as it’s been the case here in the Windy City for some time now, the warm weather meant some neighborhoods transformed into a shooting gallery. Last I heard, 8 people were killed in violence this weekend.

Chicago looks to be on track to reach 500 homicides this year. From the wildly-popular Chicago police blog Second City Cop early this morning:

A rough count of homicides puts it around 487. That might be subject to change, but 500 is just over the horizon. 515 is a real possibility for the year.

Now, SCC is talking about the “official” homicide count here. According to a different blog I’ve started reading, homicides in the Second City are already over 500 in 2012. Comfortably over. From the sidebar of the Chicago crime blog Crime in Chicago this morning:

NUMBER OF HOMICIDES IN CHICAGO AS OF Dec. 2, 2012

510

Second City Cop, 487. Crime in Chicago, 510. Why the discrepancy?

From a November 28 post on Crime in Chicago:

The city feeds the media and the public homicide numbers that do not include Justifiable Homicides. Example here- Police fatally shoot man who pointed gun at them We do, after all an outcome of a homicide does not change depending on who kills you.

The city will count a double homicide as 1 homicide. Example here- 2 men shot dead, woman shot in Burnside . We count 2.

The city will classify obvious homicides as “Death Investigation” and not close the case until the following year, when the city’s homicide rate is no longer front page news. Example here- Body found in burning Brighton Park garage

Finally we obtain our numbers directly form the Chicago Police Department website- http://gis.chicagopolice.org/ We stand by our numbers. Now go ask the CPD and REDEYE to explain their numbers and this…..

“The city will count a double homicide as 1 homicide.” “The city will classify obvious homicides as ‘Death Investigation’ and not close the case until the following year.” I’ve heard this before. Is that really the case?

In 2011, the “official” number of murders was 433. Crime in Chicago counted 441 homicides.

Sources:

SCC. “Up to Eight.” Second City Cop. 3 Dec. 2012. (http://secondcitycop.blogspot.com/2012/12/up-to-eight.html). 3 Dec. 2012.

“Chicago Violence Scoreboard.” Crime in Chicago. 28 Nov. 2012. (http://crimeinchicago.blogspot.com/2012/11/chicago-violence-scoreboard.html). 3 Dec. 2012.