Chicago records fewest number of murders in a year since 1965

[MohRokTah]

Yep, you have to go back almost 50 years to find more murders in a single year. I guess that whole "but but CHICAGO CRIME!!!" meme of the RWNJs has just gone away:

Chicago crime and murders at historic lows

Chicago police say 2014 ended with historic lows in crime and murders.

Police said they recorded the fewest murders since 1965.

Still, the last murder of the year was recorded yesterday, when a masked gunman followed a tow truck driver into a tire shop office and fatally shot him on the South Side.

The man, identified as Reginald Jones, was taken to Jackson Park Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

...

More with video at WGNTV.

[Enrique]

1. murders down, but shootings up 12%

maybe people's aim is getting worse?

[mopinko]

2. trauma care is getting better.

especially here. we have an excellent healthcare system, and one of the best public hospitals in the country.

[Enrique]

6. i've heard that Cook County is one of the best hospitals for gunshot wounds

a terrible reputation otherwise, but world class for gunshots.

[GGJohn]

8. I think Cook County hospitals are were military corpsman would train on the care

of GSW's, not positive about that.

[mopinko]

10. used to be burns.

at one time they had the #1 burn unit in the country.

i think since the move to the new hospital quality of care has improved. and cook county, in general, has moved hard to use the aca to solve some of it's most intractable problems. last year for the first time insured patients outnumbered the uninsured. they have their own free medicaid hmo.
this is going to do a lot for the county, beyond what it is going to do for the county budget.

[Fred Sanders]

15. The Chief says there are far to many illegal guns on the street, and so easy to get what with

300 million of them floating around. NYC murder rate is also at a historical low, congratulations all around for being smart on crime and throwing away the failed jail and punishment ways of the past.

[mopinko]

3. considering that we started the year

as "murder city" i have to wonder how this happened.
i know of at least one case where an obvious murder was classified as "unexplained" or some such non-homicide classification. so i have to wonder if the books are being cooked.
always thought murders were one stat that you couldnt really tinker with, but.....

[GGJohn]

5. If the coroner rules it as undetermined,

then it's not classified as a murder, so maybe more homicides were ruled as undetermined.
Not sure if they include suicides in the homicide stats.

[mopinko]

9. dont include suicides, and prolly

they are using that one to obscure the numbers, too.
i will keep my eyes peeled for some comparison in those numbers.

[GGJohn]

11. It would be interesting to see how they classify the each catagory.

[onehandle]

4. Gun nuts will continue to dismiss gun crime as an 'urban' problem. nt

[GGJohn]

7. Well, considering there are more murders in the urban areas than the rural areas,

how would you classify it?

[Duckhunter935]

12. good question

[former9thward]

13. Chicago still has more murders than NYC.

NYC has three times the population than Chicago. Also the murders in Chicago are almost all on the West and South sides of the city. It is a severe problem for the people living there and should not be dismissed.

[MohRokTah]

14. I'm not dismissing it at all.

I merely note it is getting better.

Lots more work to do, though.