Hinz: Is Richard Irvin's anti-crime record as good as he says?
GOP gubernatorial candidate Richard Irvin has been pitching himself as the law-and-order type of leader Illinois needs, comparing his record as mayor of Aurora to that to other areas of the state during the tenure of Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker. But how good actually is his record?
New data being released by the Irvin campaign and the Aurora Police Department indicate the crime situation recently hasn't been nearly as bad as in, for instance, Chicago. The data also suggest that, after a spike in pandemic-ridden 2020, crime dropped some in 2021.
But there have been at least two trouble points: criminal sexual assault and aggravated assault/battery, the Aurora Police Department concedes. And the overall level of more serious crimes involving violence has climbed steadily since 2018.