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Good news overnight for those who support law enforcement and care about safe communities. Lori Lightfoot, the embattled mayor of Chicago, was sent packing by voters in yesterday’s mayoral election.

Crime in that city is no joke. With only two exceptions, EVERY category of crime had increased under Lori Lightfoot’s watch by significant margins. Overall, crime in Chicago was 20% higher last year vs. 2021. Burglary, theft, criminal sexual assault, all up.  Motor vehicle theft more than doubled year over year. On and on. Murders and “shooting incidents” were down last year, but when you consider 2021 was the deadliest year on record for Chicago in the last quarter century, there’s really nowhere for those crimes to go but down.

This, while the ranks of the Chicago Police Department thinned and were not adequately replaced. Meanwhile, the police department itself has made fewer arrests for crimes. The Chicago Sun Times newspaper reports that arrests were made in only 12% of all crimes reported last year. And get this: that arrest rate drops to just 6% for the crimes of murder, sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated battery.

Mayor Lightfoot never appeared to take these problems seriously, and her city became a national disgrace for crime. In a recent poll, two-thirds of Chicago voters said they didn’t feel safe in their own city. And 45,000 people moved away from Chicago in 2021. Wonder why.

Friends, this post isn’t about Chicago. Or Lori Lightfoot for that matter. Instead, it’s an illustration of what happens when a community – ANY community – fails to support its police, fails to arrest & prosecute when a crime is committed, and fails to put convicted criminals in jail.