Still more work to be done, police say
ROCKFORD — Tuesday marked the three-year anniversary of the fatal shooting of Jazznique "Jazz" Fort, an Auburn High School freshman who was gunned down near the Fairgrounds Valley housing complex.
The teen was with a small group of individuals in the early morning hours of Jan. 2, 2015, in the 800 block of Lee Street when gunshots were fired from a moving gray or black minivan. Jazz was struck in the head.
Police do not believe she was the intended target, and her slaying remains unsolved.
"It just gets harder and harder every year," Rockford Police Lt. Kurt Whisenand said of solving homicides. "The less people are cooperative, and this little subculture of not talking to police, the harder it makes it on us," as well as on family members seeking justice for slain loved ones.
Jazz was one of 19 Rockford homicide victims that year. Seven of those cases, or 37 percent, have been solved.
"The overwhelming majority of our solves come from people who either witnessed it, or who know the suspect, or saw something," Whisenand said. "That's where our information, that's where our solves come from. That's why we are always constantly asking for the public's help."
Over the past 25 years, Rockford has averaged 19 homicides a year. Of the city's 16 homicides in 2017, seven cases have been solved.
Winnebago County did not record any homicides last year after three the year before. All three of those cases have been solved.
In fact, over the past six years, the county has solved 72 percent of its homicides. Winnebago County Deputy Chief Mike Schultz, who heads the Sheriff's Department's detective bureau, said, "The common denominator is good, hard detective work."
He also noted that because the county has fewer homicides, county detectives can devote more time to each case.
Of the homicides committed in a five-year period from 2008 to 2012, Rockford police have solved 69 percent of the cases. Of the homicides committed over the next five years, 50 percent remain unsolved.
Whisenand said police are working to improve both of those numbers.
In mid-2016, the Rockford Police Department reorganized its detective bureau. It moved away from a geographic policing model and back to a centralized detective bureau now located in the District 2 police station at Broadway and 10th Street. Housing detectives in one location allows for better communication and sharing of information, police say.
The early results are promising. The city's solve rate improved from 37 percent in 2015 to 46 percent in 2016, and in 2017 the number of homicides dropped by 10.
"Obviously by solving more violent crime, you prevent future violent crime, because we know that there is a very small percentage of offenders who commit the majority of the violent crimes," Whisenand said. "So for everyone of those that you take off the street and get them charged in the criminal justice system, that is one fewer person to commit violent crime."
Within the next two months, Whisenand expects the police department to incorporate a sophisticated intelligence-gathering center modeled after the Boston Police Department's Boston Regional Intelligence Center, or BRIC. The BRIC uses information gathered by crime analysts and others to target shootings, gang violence and other crimes as well as those committing the crime.
Still, Whisenand said, law enforcement's greatest asset is the eyes and ears of the public.
"That by far is the biggest key to solving any crime — is community involvement," he said. "The people who were there, and who know things, and who are willing come and tell us what happened."
Jazz would have graduated this year from Auburn High School. She dreamed of becoming a lawyer.
Lanetka Ingram of Rockford said her daughter believed in justice for others and finds it beyond disappointing that there has been no justice for her.
"It's a loyalty code," she said. "It's very frustrating. It hurts."
If you have any information regarding an unsolved homicide, call Crime Stoppers at 815-963-7867.
Chris Green: 815-987-1241; cgreen@rrstar.com; @chrisfgreen