Blue City Leader To Stop Sharing Crime Alerts Because Of It’s Bad ‘Perception’

(RepublicanReport.org) – Each week, the Chicago Police Department (CPD) releases a CompStat report showing crime statistics not only for the week but year-to-date for comparative year-over-year numbers. Through June 2, crime overall was down 10% from 2023, but certain categories had increased. Still, a Chicago alderwoman stated she would no longer send crime alerts to the public.

North Side Ald. Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth (48th) recently stated in a blog post that she would not include certain crime alerts to residents and business owners unless they chose to “opt-in” to continue to receive those notifications. She said everyone on her email list would still receive alerts for imminent crime threats but not other crimes like robberies and sexual assaults.

Manaa-Hoppenworth said the decision was made based on “feedback” from those in the community and “informed by research” showing that over-reporting crime could lead to a skewed “perception about crime rates.” The alderman said that view could harm the “most marginalized and underserved” in the community.

While defending her decision, Manaa-Hoppenworth said the residents in her district contacted her to say they didn’t feel the safety alerts for every single incident were making them “feel any safer” because they were reported after the fact, leaving them with information but felt powerless instead.

The alerts that will now go out to those who choose to receive them will be filtered through a decision-making process to make sure the information is “new, accurate, and helpful” and not “contributing” to issues created from “overreporting and [the] amplification of crime.”

Manna-Hoppenworth reported that nearly 16% of her 6,864 email subscribers have opted to continue receiving crime alerts so far. She made no apologies for her decision.

While the CompStat report showed crime down overall compared to 2023, the two-, three-, and four-year comparisons tell a different story. Total crime increased over those periods by 25%, 68%, and 56%, respectively.