PEORIA, Ill. – Peoria Police Chief Eric Echevarria says he’s proving doubters wrong when it comes to the city’s crime statistics for 2022.
“When we talk about gun violence, 28 percent down on shooting incidents, 26 percent down on shooting victims, 26 down on shooting murders, and 27 percent down on all murders. We’ll take any downward motion we can,” said Echevarria.
There were 24 homicides overall in 2022, down from 33 the year before; and 88 shootings overall, down from 122.
ShotSpotter alerts and number of rounds fired also are down.
Echevarria attributes some of the success and help to community partnerships, including with local religious leaders and others, among other things.
“We implemented a chaplain program, one. Part of our gun violence initiative when I got hired here was a gun buyback. From the gun buybacks alone, we recovered 228 guns,” said Echevarria.
Overall, 538 weapons were recovered in 2022, up from 400 in 2021.
“There was one (recovered from a gun buyback)…the officers there said, ‘Hey, this weapon is worth a lot of money. You don’t have to bring it here…..,’” said Echevarria. The resident responded, Echevarria says, “‘No. I want it here. I don’t want anybody to get their hands on it.’”
The data is preliminary. Peoria Police say more detailed statistics will come in the next month or so.
