Rockford’s mayor wishes his city’s fire department wasn’t the second-busiest in Illinois. But he’s pleased about a big drop in violent crimes.
Tom McNamara said, for the first four months of the year, the city’s fire department has seen an increase in total calls compared to the same period last year, with a 26 percent increase in fire calls.
The city’s crime statistics are more positive. Statistics for January to April of this year show a significant drop in violent crime compared to the same time last year, 22 percent overall. Aggravated battery with shots fired fell 35 percent. And there was a 34 percent drop in robberies. MacNamara says it’s been a group effort.
“I’ve been pretty thrilled with the work that our police department’s doing,” he said. “And probably equally or more thrilled with the commitment that our entire council had had to public safety.”
But he said it’s only a start.
“We are not going to fix the crime problem overnight. No matter what happens this year, I can guarantee you we will have a lot more work to do next year. So my goal is that we continue to move in the right direction.”
McNamara said involvement by members of the community has been and will be key to making that happen.
