Homicides in Chicago fell 16 percent in 2017 while shootings were down and firearms arrests were up, police said on Monday. The city whose crime stats made it a target for President Donald Trump showed some improvement in 2017. Chicago's annual crime report released Monday showed homicides in the Windy City dropped 16 percent last year. Police reported 650 murders, down from 771 in 2016. Shooting incidents fell 22 percent and the number of shooting victims dropped 21 percent. Police credited the drop partially to a bigger presence on the streets... the city hired more than 1,100 new police officers in 2017. Despite the improvement, Chicago still ranks number one in murders... more than New York and Los Angeles combined, though it is not number one in murders per capita. UPSOUND (SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP SAYING: "In Chicago, more than 4,000 people were shot last year alone. And, the murder rate so far this year has been even higher." President Trump took aim at the city throughout his campaign in 2016. He kept criticizing Chicago even as crime fell, tweeting in June 2017 that crime and killings there reached "epidemic proportions." Police said overall crime for other offenses like sexual assault and robbery was down 2 percent... another stat city officials hope to drop even lower in the new year. Website: http://timesofoman.com Facebook: http://facebook.com/timesofoman Twitter: http://twitter.com/timesofoman