Illinois State Police Reveal Sudden Crackdown on Highway Crimes

Illinois highways at night can be a dangerous place, but state police in the Land of Lincoln are doing something about it and have revealed a sudden crackdown on interstate crimes that has had incredible results.

On the surface, a recent announcement by the Illinois State Police seems like a simple reduction. But, when you dig into the numbers, you see there's been a remarkable effort by Illinois law enforcement to make highways a safer place especially when it involves the previous uptick in shootings on the road. Look at these numbers over the past 4 years:

In 2021, there were 109 Illinois highway shootings. That number was reduced to 77 in 2022 and 59 in 2023. Now, in 2024, that number has been reduced to just 39 through the end of June.

The number of injuries from those Illinois highway shootings has been greatly reduced from 69 in 2021 to just 9 in 2024. Incredible. 

How have the Illinois State Police been able to turn around the highway shooting trends?

The key number that stuck out to me in this new data is that in 2021, there were only 288 arrests while already in 2024 there have been 1,249 arrests. That's one way to take a bite out of crime.

I think even the Illinois police would agree that one highway shooting incident is still one too many, but credit where credit is due. The massive reduction in shooting-related injuries and incidents and the mammoth increase in arrests show that their attack on highway crime in Illinois is working.