Public Safety: Police, Fire and Crime
- Team Taylor
- Mar 14
- 1 min read
Updated: Mar 15
During my term as mayor, I increased the number of police officers on the street and the number of Firefighters.
I have a new dispatch center for police and fire, and the new animal control has expanded space and new state-of-the-art equipment. I brought back community policing and restructured the Police Department to meet our community’s needs better, and we have increased the number of minority and women hiring. I invested heavily in cameras and other key technologies. I invested in vehicles, including buying 12 new vehicles for the Fire Department. I have updated facilities, including replacing outdated HVAC systems. I purchased additional land to build a replacement for Station 3.
I provided increased pension funding to make up for the nearly $1 million Cunningham shorted each of the police and fire pensions (AnnTaylorForWaukegan.com/pensions).
While crime is and continues to be a key concern in our community, things are moving in the right direction. Total crimes (murder, rape, robbery, agg. assault and battery, burglary, theft, stolen motor vehicle and arson) were down 28% during my term as mayor.
For Waukegan crime statistics, see AnnTaylorForWaukegan.com/SafetyProof.pdf.
One of Cunningham’s flyers claims murders are up 43% under my administration. He compares 2020 with 2023. Why these two years? I am sure you can guess. If he compared his last year (2020) to my most recent year (2024) with 5 murders, murders are down 29%.
This is a classic example of how to lie with statistics – picking and choosing the data. Figures don’t lie, but liars figure.
For further information, go to AnnTaylorForWaukegan.com/Safety.
