In the current two month period, there were 6 robberies, which is up from 4 in the previous two month period. All were in the first week of May, including three that happened within a 15 minute timeframe. Most were connected to 3-6 black males in a dark Dodge Durango. The Durango, which had been stolen, was recovered in the 25th District. It has been processed and is being tested for evidence. Separate from these, there was one call for aggravated battery on March 31 at 5am, at Damen and Shakespeare where 24 rounds were fired and a person was hit.
Burglaries are up from 5 to 8; all but one were from businesses. The other one was bikes from a garage. This is a reminder to always lock your bikes, even inside, and to make sure they are registered.
The police wanted to remind people to call 911 before posting on social media; a number of things get posted in neighborhood Facebook pages, but there are no records of them being called in. If there’s no 911 call, it’s like it didn’t happen. Officers also suggested leaving your contact info to prioritize the call as well as for them to contact you if they need more details.
Officers also said that it helps to have multiple people call 911- more calls equals more resources, and more missions being done in a specific area. Also, your neighbor might see something that you didn’t, and the more info that is given to the police, the better. Example- you see a crime connected to a blue Chevy; you call your neighbor, who also got the license plate number. Both of you calling 911 with these details helps out the police and helps prioritize the issue.
Technology helps the police; you can register your camera so the police can access footage faster in the event something happens near you; you can also email footage to caps.014district@chicagopolice.org
One person brought up private security- for the part of Bucktown that has it, the citizens living there pay for it. The private security staff has no enforcement power; instead, they serve as extra eyes and call 911 when they see suspicious things. They also take part in preventative measures such as closing open garage doors.
People brought up not seeing officers- there are other teams such as TACT, unmarked, etc. that are also in the neighborhood in addition to the regular beat car. However, citywide the police is down about 1500-2000 officers. There are issues with people not wanting to sign up to become officers. There is supposed to be an updated allocation study done to see how many officers are needed in each district.
A frequent issue with cases being tried by the County is judges releasing people. Federal cases get better results and we have asked for more federal assistance on investigations and prosecution of violent crimes.
A question was asked about the city getting more helicopters- the city will have access to FBI/Homeland Security ones for the DNC; we currently have access to state and county ones in addition to the city ones. The additional city one that was ordered 2 years ago was finally approved.
It was asked what people do with stolen phones- in addition to selling them, if you are logged into zelle, venmo, etc, people can send money to themselves (sometimes on burner accounts making it hard to trace); if you have your credit/debit card loaded on your phone, they can also use that. Make sure to always log out of these apps or remove them entirely.
The next 1432 Beat meeting on July 24 will be Zoom only; we will post the link on our website closer to that date.
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