Crime
To understand how the justice system responds to crime in Cook County, it is first important to understand how much crime occurs and the number of individuals subsequently arrested. Importantly, research conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice reveals that not all incidents of crime in the United States are reported to the police. For example, the 2022 National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) estimates that 42% of serious violent crimes were not reported to the police. Variation in reporting also exists across crime categories - nationally, the majority of thefts and sexual assaults are not reported to the police, while the majority of motor vehicle thefts and robberies are reported. Thus, when considering how much crime is reported to the police, it is important to keep in mind that this represents only a portion of the crime that actually occurs.
Information on incidents and arrests comes from the Chicago Police Department's open data portal. Data on this site are based on the most detailed information available at the time of publication and are intended to show general patterns in incidents and arrests in Chicago. For more details on the data, read our Glossary.
Crimes can be reported to the department through calls for service, through an online reporting system, or by officer identification. This section shows data on the number of crime incidents reported to the Chicago Police Department.
Incidents Reported to CPD
Arrests may result in the filing of a criminal case in court and may result in those arrested being booked into the Cook County Jail for a period of pretrial detention. This section shows data on the number of arrests made by the Chicago Police Department.
Arrests Made by CPD
