Sector 31

This sector includes mainly residential homes in newer subdivisions, as well as the Westfield Louis Joliet Mall.  The area is 2.91 square miles.  Below are statistics for this sector.  Two different measures have been used:  Calls for Service, and Reported Incidents.  Sectors were reconfigured at the end of January, 2007 so comparison between years is not possible. 

Calls for Service are calls that are made to the police department, either using the emergency or non-emergency numbers.  They can be used to measure the activity of the officers at specific times and places, but are not necessarily a good measurement of the crime rate. 

Reported incidents are incidents where a police report is taken.  They are often more serious crimes, such as burglaries, robberies, thefts, and crimes against persons.  These statistics are often used to gauge crime rates in communities; however, it is important to also consider the population, the size of the sector, and the time period being used.  In addition, the data presented here is in a very raw form; it has been analyzed BEFORE detectives have had the opportunity to investigate the incident and confirm that it is a valid incident.  Finally, the location of an institution or business that generates many calls can distort the results.  For example, Sector 13 contains Silver Cross Hospital, which may generate many calls, but distorts the true nature of the entire sector.  Often calls for service are settled at the scene, or unfounded, and do not require a report to be taken.  Some examples are loud parties, or juvenile nuisances.  They can often be settled quickly by the officer without any necessary arrest or follow-up.  In other cases, the call for service may not end up being what it was originally reported as.  For example, a resident may call and complain about a suspicious person lurking at the house across the street.  This is logged as a suspicious person call, but when the officer arrives, it ends up being the neighbor locked out of his home, or a burglar trying to get in, or an intoxicated vagrant that is lost.  In each of these cases, the end result is not actually a suspicious person, but something else.  Another example is having four burglaries are committed in one particular sector.  If this is over a one-year period, that may be great, but if it is over a 2-day period, there may be cause for concern.  However, if the sector has 10,000 residents, maybe even the 2-day period isn't that serious.  When viewing the statistics below, please keep these things in mind.