Property and fraud offenses dominate the sheer volume of Chicago's municipal incident logs, but they rarely end in an arrest. When you analyze the raw incident data, a stark divide emerges between crimes reported after the fact and offenses discovered through proactive policing.
Bottom line: Chicago Motor Vehicle Theft statistics show 32,148 incidents but only a 3.0% arrest rate, while proactive enforcement categories like Weapons Violations see arrests in over 73% of cases.
Here is exactly what the city's open data reveals about offense frequency, arrest likelihood, and incident severity.
Top Offenses by Volume in Chicago Open Data
When evaluating Chicago crime types by volume, non-violent property and financial crimes take the top spots. The data shows that Deceptive Practice and Motor Vehicle Theft account for tens of thousands of police reports.
These high-volume categories share a common trait: the offender is rarely on the scene when police arrive. The result? Massively inflated incident counts with minimal corresponding arrests.
Here is the breakdown of incident volumes and arrest counts based on Chicago FBI offense codes:
| Offense Type | FBI Severity Code | Total Incidents | Total Arrests | Arrest Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Motor Vehicle Theft | 07 | 32,148 | 989 | 3.0% |
| Deceptive Practice | 11 | 23,373 | 615 | 2.6% |
| Burglary | 05 | 11,201 | 666 | 5.9% |
| Weapons Violation | 15 | 10,173 | 7,451 | 73.2% |
| Burglary | 06 | 6,801 | 109 | 1.6% |
| Sex Offense | 17 | 2,203 | 177 | 8.0% |
| Public Peace Violation | 24 | 1,874 | 944 | 50.3% |
| Offense Involving Children | 17 | 501 | 25 | 4.9% |
| Prostitution | 16 | 397 | 371 | 93.4% |
| Liquor Law Violation | 22 | 335 | 315 | 94.0% |
| Obscenity | 26 | 55 | 34 | 61.8% |
| Gambling | 19 | 30 | 29 | 96.6% |
| Public Indecency | 17 | 27 | 25 | 92.5% |
The numbers highlight a massive enforcement gap. Chicago Deceptive Practice incidents—which include credit card fraud, embezzlement, and identity theft—totaled 23,373 reports. Yet, officers made only 615 arrests.
That translates to a 2.6% clearance rate by arrest. Financial crimes often cross state or international lines, leaving local patrol officers with no immediate suspect to apprehend.
Motor vehicle theft follows the exact same pattern. With 32,148 reported incidents, it is the highest-volume offense in this dataset. However, police recorded only 989 arrests, meaning 97% of these cases do not result in an immediate apprehension.
Arrest Rates for High-Volume Offenses
The data tells a completely different story when looking at offenses that require an officer's physical presence to document. Weapons violations and public order offenses show arrest rates that dwarf those of property crimes.
Here's the thing:
- Weapons Violations: Police recorded 10,173 incidents and made 7,451 arrests. That is a 73.2% arrest rate. These incidents are typically generated during traffic stops or foot pursuits where the suspect is physically detained with the contraband.
- Public Peace Violations: Out of 1,874 incidents, officers made 944 arrests (50.3%). These are on-view offenses like disorderly conduct where police intervene directly.
- Burglary Discrepancies: The data splits burglary into two Chicago offense severity codes. Code 05 saw 11,201 incidents with a 5.9% arrest rate. Code 06 recorded 6,801 incidents with a dismal 1.6% arrest rate.
This split in burglary codes likely represents the difference between forced entry and unforced entry, or residential versus commercial targets. Regardless of the sub-category, property crimes consistently yield single-digit arrest percentages.
Sex offenses (Severity 17) also show low immediate clearance. Out of 2,203 reported incidents, police made 177 arrests. That 8.0% rate reflects the complex, investigative nature of these crimes, which often require extensive detective work before charges can be filed.
Analyzing Chicago Battery Incident Types
Beyond property and fraud, Battery represents a massive portion of municipal police activity. The city's open data contains 75,982 total battery records.
Unlike fraud or auto theft, battery involves direct physical confrontation. However, the arrest rates remain surprisingly low in the immediate aftermath of the report.
We pulled a random 12-incident sample of recent battery reports to analyze how the city classifies these confrontations.
| Incident ID | Date | Severity | Description | Domestic | Arrest | Neighborhood |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14153410 | 2026-03-31 | 08B | DOMESTIC BATTERY SIMPLE | Yes | No | Community Area 71 |
| 14124504 | 2026-03-01 | 04B | AGGRAVATED DOMESTIC - WEAPON | Yes | No | Community Area 44 |
| 14223830 | 2026-06-08 | 08B | DOMESTIC BATTERY SIMPLE | Yes | No | Community Area 19 |
| 14112149 | 2026-02-16 | 04B | AGGRAVATED - HANDGUN | No | No | Community Area 35 |
| 14126727 | 2026-03-03 | 08B | DOMESTIC BATTERY SIMPLE | Yes | Yes | Community Area 23 |
| 14144757 | 2026-03-23 | 08B | SIMPLE | No | No | Community Area 51 |
| 14218393 | 2026-06-01 | 04B | AGGRAVATED OF A SENIOR CITIZEN | Yes | No | Community Area 58 |
| 14131645 | 2026-03-09 | 04B | AGGRAVATED - HANDGUN | No | No | Community Area 25 |
| 14115176 | 2026-02-18 | 08B | DOMESTIC BATTERY SIMPLE | Yes | No | Community Area 32 |
| 14131392 | 2026-03-08 | 08B | DOMESTIC BATTERY SIMPLE | Yes | No | Community Area 8 |
| 14208466 | 2026-05-25 | 08B | DOMESTIC BATTERY SIMPLE | Yes | No | Community Area 43 |
| 14162520 | 2026-04-10 | null | SIMPLE | No | No | N/A |
In this 12-incident sample, only one case resulted in an immediate arrest. This mirrors the broader trend in municipal data where suspects frequently flee the scene before patrol units arrive.
Domestic-Flagged Battery Incidents in Chicago
A critical data point in Chicago Battery incident types is the domestic violence flag. In our 12-record sample, seven incidents were explicitly flagged as domestic.
Most of these are classified under severity code 08B, which designates "DOMESTIC BATTERY SIMPLE." For example, incident 14153410 occurred at 076XX S LAFLIN ST in Community Area 71. Despite the domestic flag, no arrest was recorded at the time of the report.
But there is a catch.
The only arrest in the entire sample occurred during a domestic incident. On March 3, 2026, police responded to 042XX W CRYSTAL ST in Community Area 23 (incident 14126727). Officers recorded a simple domestic battery and successfully made an arrest on the scene.
Domestic flags also intersect with aggravated charges. Incident 14124504 in Community Area 44 was flagged as domestic but escalated to an 04B severity code for "AGGRAVATED DOMESTIC BATTERY - OTHER DANGEROUS WEAPON." No arrest was made at the time.
Aggravated Battery Incidents and Locations
When a battery involves a weapon or a vulnerable victim, Chicago maps it to the 04B severity code. The data sample reveals several high-stakes aggravated incidents across different city sectors.
Incidents involving firearms are explicitly tracked. On February 16, 2026, police logged an "AGGRAVATED - HANDGUN" battery at 035XX S STATE ST in Community Area 35 (incident 14112149). Less than a month later, another handgun-related battery occurred at 055XX W NORTH AVE in Community Area 25 (incident 14131645). Neither resulted in an immediate arrest.
The data also tracks victim demographics for severity mapping.
Incident 14218393, reported at 024XX W 45TH PL in Community Area 58, was classified as "AGGRAVATED OF A SENIOR CITIZEN." This case was also flagged as domestic, indicating a severe intra-family conflict, yet it did not yield an immediate arrest.
Less Frequent Offenses and Arrest Outcomes
While property and violent crimes dominate the raw counts, Chicago's data also tracks low-volume, high-arrest "vice" offenses. These categories operate on a completely different enforcement paradigm.
If an officer logs one of these incidents, an arrest is almost guaranteed:
- Gambling: Out of 30 total incidents, police made 29 arrests. That is a 96.6% apprehension rate.
- Liquor Law Violations: Officers recorded 335 incidents and made 315 arrests, yielding a 94.0% rate.
- Prostitution: The data shows 397 incidents and 371 arrests, a 93.4% arrest rate.
- Public Indecency: With only 27 incidents reported, police made 25 arrests (92.5%).
These numbers prove that these offenses are entirely driven by proactive police stings or on-view enforcement. Citizens rarely call 911 to report a liquor law violation; instead, officers generate the incident report concurrently with the arrest.
Quick Takeaways
- Volume vs. Enforcement: Motor Vehicle Theft (32,148 incidents) and Deceptive Practice (23,373 incidents) are the most common offenses, but both have arrest rates under 3.1%.
- Proactive Policing: Weapons violations generate massive arrest numbers (7,451 arrests) because the incident is usually discovered during a stop.
- Battery Classifications: The battery sample shows a heavy skew toward domestic incidents, with severity codes splitting between simple (08B) and aggravated (04B) based on weapon use or victim age.
- Vice Crime Metrics: Offenses like gambling and public indecency have low total volumes but arrest rates exceeding 92%, reflecting on-view police enforcement rather than citizen-reported crimes.