Property offenses continue to lead Naperville crime list

Naperville has published its annual crime report, and as usual, property offenses were the thing reported most in 2024.

Nearly 64% of reported crimes consisted of burglary, theft, fraud, shoplifting, swindling, arson, forgery, blackmail and other crimes against property, as defined by the National Incident-Based Reporting System, the report says. It was down about 4%.

About 25% of reported crimes were offenses committed against persons. There was one murder. Of offenses against persons, 75% involved what NIBRS calls simple assault.

Thirty-six people reported being victims of a criminal sexual assault. Of those, 33 were acquainted with their assailants, one had met their assailant that day, and two declined to provide any information about their attackers, according to a news release from the department.

Weapons-violation crimes reported decreased by 21%, from 116 reports in 2023 to 91 reports in 2024.

Shoplifting saw an increase of about 12%. Last year, Chief Jason Arres said the department in 2022 started encouraging businesses to report such crimes after learning that many did not bother to do so.

In the murder case, a man was accused of killing his ex-wife at the home in which they both lived.

The report is available on the police department’s web page at naperville.il.us.