Elmhurst Crime Near Decade Low: Report

ELMHURST, IL – Think crime is inevitably heading up? Think again, at least in Elmhurst.

Overall, Elmhurst's crime dropped considerably in 2023 from a year before. That's according to the police department's annual report, which is set to be presented Monday to a City Council committee.

Last year, the number of criminal incidents reported for the FBI's crime summary fell to 442, a 13 percent drop from 2022's 507.

The number in 2023 was the second lowest since 2013. In 2021, the city's number of criminal incidents was reported at 421, an 11-year low. The high was 586 in 2017.

In 2023, the number of local robberies was three, the lowest over the last 11 years. The high was 11 in 2019.

The level of burglaries also remained relatively low in 2023, at 42. The previous two years were 36 and 39. Those numbers were considerably lower than the previous eight years, where the number ranged from 56 to 71.

By contrast, aggravated assaults and batteries are still high compared with previous years. 2023 saw 23 such reports. That is higher than the handful that occurred annually from 2013 to 2015. As recently as 2019, a dozen aggravated assaults and batteries happened, police said.

The department said it made 1,284 arrests for felony, misdemeanor and city ordinance offenses in 2023, up 19 percent from the 1,076 made the previous year.

"The effectiveness of the police department was demonstrated with fewer people being victims of (Uniform Crime Reporting) crime as the Department solved more cases, apprehended more criminals and charged more criminal offenses," Police Chief Michael McLean said in the annual report.

Here is a look at Elmhurst's crime statistics since 2013: