Two months into its security surge, CTA leadership boasted Wednesday that violent crime is decreasing on public transit.
But statistics shows that serious attacks on transit are still historically high.
The largest drops in violent crime have been on trains and buses, where police statistics show there has been a 30% drop over last year through May 10.
That’s exactly two months after the CTA said it was increasing police presence on transit by 75% after funding threats from President Donald Trump’s administration and violet attacks surged on Chicago transit. The CTA also retooled its private security programs, expanding K9 units and ending its unarmed guard program.
Those new patrols contributed to a 70% drop in serious crime on the Red Line from Roosevelt Road to 95th Street over last year, CTA Acting President Nora Leerhsen told the CTA board at its monthly meeting Wednesday.
“This impact is what riders and employees deserve,” she told the board.
But Leerhsen’s report did not mention that aggravated batteries remain higher than they were at any point in nearly a quarter century.
Aggravated batteries are up more than 8% year-to-date over 2025, with 89 reported this year through May 10, according to the police statistics. That’s 27% more aggravated batteries than in 2024, and 36% more than in 2023.
Those types of attacks have remained stubbornly high on the CTA, despite a continued drop in overall violent crime on since 2024, before the CTA implemented security changes.
Leerhsen also said the CTA board will vote next month on putting more dollars toward violence and crisis intervention. Those would include trained, non-law enforcement specialists, she said.
The vote could put nearly $13 million in new pilot programs that haven’t yet been finalized, Leerhsen said. The CTA typically invests less than $1 million annually in those types of programs, Leerhsen said.
Leerhsen has been running the CTA in an interim position for more than a year. Mayor Brandon Johnson hasn’t announced a replacement, and it’s unclear if he will do so before June 1, when Chicago-area public transit will undergo a major reorganization under the Northern Illinois Transit Authority law.
The law will replace the Regional Transit Authority board and place new requirements on appointments to the boards of the CTA, Metra and Pace.