Violent crime ticks downward in Rockford
Violent crime in Rockford eased in 2022 according to statistics released by the city on Wednesday.
The data, presented by Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara and Rockford Police Chief Carla Redd during a news conference, shows there were 6% fewer violent crimes — homicides, assaults, rapes and robberies — compared to last year.
"Obviously, we aren’t here doing any big celebration or saying 'mission’s accomplished,'" McNamara said. "It’s really far from that. I would say what we are seeing is that it’s trending in the right direction."
Through Dec. 12, there were 2,008 violent crimes reported by Rockford police down from 2,126 in the same time period last year. There have also been fewer killings in Rockford so far this year, 15 compared with 24 all of last year. And there were 225 robberies reported, 3% fewer than the 233 reported in the same time period in 2021.
Although gunfire remains common in the city where there were 594 instances of illegal gunfire through November, that total was 12% fewer than the 676 incidents of shots fired in the same time frame last year.
Jeff Kolkey can be reached at (815) 987-1374, via email at jkolkey@rrstar.com and on Twitter @jeffkolkey.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Rockford officials say crime stats show positive trend
