While Chicago has notably huge upticks from 2014 through 2016, they're also still at relative historic lows compared to past decades. And even with the dramatic upticks in 2015 and 2016 (crime rates appear to drop in 2017), Chicago is still well below Detroit's rates:
I'm sure poverty and demographics, nor the police force and policy, aren't the only factors when comparing NYC and Chicago, although they are easier to quantify.
http://www.fox2detroit.com/news/local-news/fbi-detroit-has-n...
For comparison's sake, Chicago's homicide rate in 2016 is 27.8:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/data/ct-homicide-spikes-c...
It's true that Detroit's homicide/violent crime number is at historic lows, but that tracks with the rest of the country.
https://crime-data-explorer.fr.cloud.gov/explorer/agency/MI8...
While Chicago has notably huge upticks from 2014 through 2016, they're also still at relative historic lows compared to past decades. And even with the dramatic upticks in 2015 and 2016 (crime rates appear to drop in 2017), Chicago is still well below Detroit's rates:
https://crime-data-explorer.fr.cloud.gov/explorer/agency/ILC...
I'm sure poverty and demographics, nor the police force and policy, aren't the only factors when comparing NYC and Chicago, although they are easier to quantify.