Murders Down 45%, Sex Assaults Up 98.5% From 2020: Aurora Police

AURORA, IL — Murders, robberies and property crime in Aurora over the last year compared to 2020, but some crimes, including criminal sexual assault, increased almost 100 percent, officials said.

After completing the final tally of the department's Uniform Crime Reporting, the Aurora Police Department reported statistics March 16 comparing crime in the city between 2021 and 2020. Through the program, operated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, police report crimes and are provided with reliable statistics, officials said.

In 2021, the department received more than 226,000 emergency and non-emergency calls and responded to 119,035 calls for service.

Here is an overview of the data provided by the police department.

• Murders dropped from 11 to 6 in 2021, a 45.5 percent decrease from 2020.
• Shootings, including incidents where no one was hit, dropped from 154 to 105 in 2021, a 32 percent decrease from 2020.
• Motor vehicle thefts dropped from 78 to 59 in 2021, a 10 percent decrease from 2020.
• Total Part 1 crimes — which includes criminal homicide — dropped from 2,971 to 2,702 in 2021, a 9.1 percent decrease from 2020.
• Criminal sexual assaults increased from 68 to 135 in 2021, a 98.5 percent increase from 2020.
• Aggravated assaults and batteries increased from 502 to 513 in 2021, a 2.2 percent increase from 2020.

A state law changed in 2020 that removed the statute of limitations for criminal sexual assault crimes, allowing victims to file charges against their offenders within any timeframe. Police said this resulted in the 98.5 percent increase in reports of criminal sexual assault.

Before the change, police said victims were required to take action within 10 years of the offense if they reported it to police within three years of the crime.

Police attributed the increase in domestic battery incidents to people spending more time at home with their abusers, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Loss of income, lack of ability to pay for household necessities and extra stress caused by the pandemic also played a role, police said.

Many services available to victims of domestic abuse were not readily available during the pandemic either, police added.

In the news release, Aurora police shared plans to launch a new portal, called the Police Transparency Open Data Portal, later this year. The tool will allow residents, businesses and visitors to get a detailed and interactive look at calls for service and reported crimes while also having the ability to connect more easily with APD officers.