Edgewater is leading the way to help restore Chicago’s reputation as a safer city with a second straight year with no homicides reported in the 20th District during 2019 according to the Chicago Police Department. Overall, Chicago has cut the homicide rate in 2019 by 13%.

In a positive way to start the New Year, there were no murders reported by the 20th District last year. District 20 makes up a majority of Edgewater, a third of Uptown, most of Lincoln Square and a small potion of West Ridge. It was also announced that the City of Chicago overall saw a 13% drop in murders from 567 in 2018 to 492 in 2019. However, Chicago still lags well behind the more populated cities of New York (311) and Los Angeles (252).

Chicago saw a 9.7% drop in shooting incidents as well falling from 2,381 in 2018 to 2,151 last year. Police detectives were also able to increase their efforts in solving homicide cases by 25% since 2016 as they made arrests in 103 out of 486 incidents.

“Locally the 20th District, which makes up the majority of our Ward, had the lowest crime rates in the city, and for the second year in a row, there were zero homicides in the 48th Ward,” Alderman Harry Osterman boasted in an email. “While these are small steps in the right direction, we still have a long way to go to ensure safety for all throughout the City.”

The Alderman added that the 20th District saw a decrease in other crime rates during 2019 as well including a 28% reduction in robberies and motor vehicle thefts, 23% reduction in felony thefts, and 45% reduction in burglaries in 2019.