Dear Neighbors,
The last two weeks have been some of the most frightening and frustrating examples of crime in my tenure as your Alderman. Last night we had two robberies - one on Fremont and one on Montana. Since the 6th of December, we have had eleven reported robberies or carjackings – more than we have had any month this year and more than we have had in such a short period since April of 2014 (when there were no carjackings). Nine of these attacks took place between 3:00 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Enough is enough.
According to police, these crimes feature 2-3 crews of offenders who drive through the community and commit several crimes in a row in a short period of time. It shows the absolute brazenness of criminals right now and the continued need for more police presence in our ward.
We have demanded and will be receiving more visible help, starting tonight.
- You should observe extra police cars in our community driving the ward, with blue lights on, particularly in the areas that have been recently attacked.
- 19th District Bike officers will be patrolling North of Fullerton beginning in the mornings at 10 a.m.
- 18th District Bike officers will be patrolling South of Fullerton beginning at around 3:00 p.m.
- Commander Hein of the 018 District and Commander Papaiannou of the 019 District will also be running missions in the 43rd and 44th Ward to try and catch the crews of carjackers/robbers who have targeted Lincoln Park and Lakeview. These missions will continue until the criminals are caught. Some of these missions use unmarked cars.
We are really grateful to our great 18th and 19th District Commanders and our Area 3 Deputy Chiefs for pulling in these resources to help our community.
Walking to Stand Up For Our Neighborhood
One of the reasons I moved to Lincoln Park over 40 years ago is because, as a young single woman at the time, I believed I could walk safely at night in the neighborhood. I will not surrender that right.
Please join me in a short walk on Thursday, December 16th, 2021 at 9 p.m on the 2100 block of North Fremont. Join me as you walk your dog or just take a stroll on your own block, too. I intend to take a walk on many of the blocks that have experienced crime lately. I'll let you know other addresses soon.
Many of you have emailed, called, and come into my office advocating for more resources, asking what is being done to stop this spree, and what exactly the City's plan is to keep Lincoln Park and the Gold Coast safe. These are valid and necessary questions. We have been working with neighbors to update plans which we have been reporting to you over time. We will be reporting back with updated plans shortly.
We must continue to keep ourselves safe and stay aware. While burglaries, assaults, batteries, and even armed robberies are down statistically in our community over years in the past, crimes related to carjackings have skyrocketed. Please remember to follow the safety advice of the Chicago Police Department. They can be found here.
The police have updated the alert we published on December 9 to include recent crimes on Wrightwood, Fremont, and Montana. You can read the alert here. If you have any information on these cases, please email CAPS.018@chicagopolice.org or
CAPS.019@chicagopolice.org or call Area 3 Detective Division at (312) 744-8263.
Let's all stand up for the neighborhood we love,
