A crime involving a Divvy bike rider has been reported in our Ward. The details about the incident follow.
In response to our demands for additional police protection, several important steps have been taken:
- Ten more police officers are being added to the 18th District.
- A new multi-disciplinary Carjacking Task Force, dedicated solely to the issue of carjacking, has been created involving the Chicago Police Department and other agencies such as the Cook County Sheriff's Police and federal partners.
- The Chicago Police Department Robbery Task Force has been detailed to our Ward with uniformed and plainsclothed officers to investigate crimes.
You can see more
about the incident and the new initiatives at WGN-TV and NBC Chicago.
These are concrete and welcome steps. But simply putting more manpower on the street, whether public or privately funded, is not the full answer and will not solve the problem.
I am reviewing new data which suggest recent changes in the juvenile justice system may be a significant factor contributing to the current spike in crime.
As I have written in a previous newsletter
specific changes concerning how juveniles are handled, must be re-examined if we are to keep the same offenders from repeating crimes.
We will be holding a Community Crime Meeting with the CPD Commanders in the near future to discuss all these issues.
Community Alert
Around 5:45 p.m. on Wednesday, a man standing next to a car idling in the 1800 block of Sedgwick yanked at a passing Divvy bike rider and grabbed her purse after she fell. The woman was not injured, but the three male suspects fled. The woman told officers that three offenders were black males, 15 to 18 years old, and 5 feet 5 inches to 5 feet 8 inches tall. She told police their car is a black Honda Civic or Honda Accord with an out-of-state plate that may begin with 311. Please contact Area North detectives at 312-744-8263 if you have any information.
What we can do as a community:
- Post "Neighborhood Watch" Signs - we have them in our office.
- Turn on your porch light and leave it on at night
- Pay special attention to any suspicious people loitering in the area and call 911.
- Do not use remote keys to start your car.
- If you are ever a victim of crime, please do not endanger yourself. Give the offender your belongings.
- Call 911 immediately. Try to provide as detailed a description as you can of any suspicious person, including clothing and shoes.
Please do not hesitate to continue to contact my office about crime in the community. The current situation is not tolerable and we will stand together to demand that our neighborhoods are safe.
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