Rockford Police Department releases new crime data

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) - Promising crime statistics give Rockford Police Department and city leaders a boost in their mission to quell violence in the area.

On Thursday, Rockford released its crime data compared to this time last year, here are some statistics of note:

• Violent crime is down 6% from last year
• Homicides have dropped from 23 in 2021 to 15 in 2022.
• Aggravated Assault is down by 4%
• Guns recovered are down by 13.5%
• Property crimes have a slight rise of .4%
• Robberies dropped by 3%
• Auto theft skyrocketed by 73% due to a newly realized manufacturing error with some car brands, making them easy to steal.

Perhaps the biggest surprise was that 40% of violent crimes reported were domestic violence related. However, that doesn’t mean there are more cases.

“We knew those numbers were gonna go up, because we want people to feel comfortable reporting those crimes,” said Rockford Police Chief Carla Redd.

Both Redd and Mayor Tom McNamara say places like The Family Peace Center are focused on eliminating this type of violence. Jennifer Cacciapaglia, Manager of the Mayor’s Office of Domestic Violence and Human Trafficking Prevention for the City of Rockford, says they now code and capture any crime that is domestic related. The process is intentional and successful.

“If my ex-husband or boyfriend breaks into my home, that’s a regular felony home invasion. Now if police arrive and determine the suspect is an intimate partner or former intimate partner, we are capturing that as a domestic related home invasion,” she said.

Cacciapaglia thinks the relationship between the center and law enforcement is crucial.

“What we have seen over the past two years is our officers responding to scenes, in real time, and then taking the survivors at the survivors request from those scenes, directly to us so that we can get an immediate response,” she told 23 News.

Cacciapaglia says her department spent an entire year going over specific domestic violence policies and practices with the Police Department, and now they’re seeing success with responses.

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