Chicago Police Department ( CPD ) officials said at the most recent Town Hall Police District CAPS meeting, held Nov. 6, that crime in parts of Lake View has been going down.
Police Commander Elias Voulgaris said that areas of the districtwhich is made up of police beats 1923, 1924 and 1925had seen significant reductions in robberies in recent months, especially 1924, which extends from Southport Avenue to Halsted Street and Belmont Avenue to Addison Street.
"The beat now is not number one anymore, it's number eight," Voulgaris said. "If you look on CLEARpath, you'll see that. I'll take every win I can get. … We're also doing better on 1924 on crime overall. We're tied for number 60 out of about 180 beatsI'll take that as well."
Voulgaris said that preventing and investigating robberies would be the beat's main effort and that "officers were making arrests every day. … We know you want to feel safe out therethat's my priority." He further acknowledged that many residents were not looking for statistics as much as they were an overall feeling of being safe. Earlier in the year, many residents were skeptical of CPD numbers that said crime was going down in Lake View and other parts of the city.
Underage drinking is another area that was also not going to be tolerated by police, Voulgaris said. Area officers had been working alongside the Illinois Secretary of State Police Force, which engages in alcohol-related enforcement activity.
"Their bite is a little more powerful than ours, so they've been issuing citations and we've been issuing some as well," Voulgaris noted. "We do want to make sure we send a message that some things are not going to be tolerated. Underage drinkingif you allow that … everyone's going to be coming down here to do that."
CPD investigators have also been looking into shots fired Nov. 3 in the 1400 block of West Warner Avenue, which is in close proximity to Lake View High School. Officers recovered 10 9mm casings that night. The incident, according to Voulgaris, may have stemmed from a feud between two gangs, the Almighty Latin Eagles Nation and the Spanish Gangster Disciples. "We're trying to put a stop to it. We made four arrests that night," he noted, adding that there seemed to be no ties to students.
Sergeant Jason Clark said that there had been no additional reports of arson in recent weeks, but cautioned residents to be on the lookout for suspicious items in alleys throughout the neighborhood."I don't know where the investigation is right now, but nobody is in custody," he added.
Clark also said that he had little information on an Oct. 31 beating wherein a man was attacked in Lake View and the assailant reportedly used anti-gay epitaphs. Town Hall's liaison had not yet reached out to the man, who reported the beating to officers in his home district. Clark said that the matter had so far been classified as a simple assault and investigators were still trying to determine whether or not it was a hate crime.