It may be another 104 years before Wrigleyville is home to the world’s #1 baseball team. But, for now, we can lay claim to another top spot. As of 5:36 this morning, we’re home to the #1 police beat for robberies in Chicago. Expand the time frame to 365 days, and we’re the #5 robbery beat.
That’s one heck of a performance when you consider that there are 273 other beats vying for the top spot.
Beat 1924, which covers the area from the west side of Halsted to east side of Southport and from south side of Addison to the north side of Belmont, reported 37 robberies in the past 90 days.
According to the Chicago Police Department’s CLEARMap web site, that puts us at the top of the list of places people should go in Chicago. If they want to be mugged, that is.
The 10 most robbery-filled police beats of the past 90 days are shaded on the map below. Beat 1924 is the green section. Note: There is a tie for 10th place, that’s why 11 beats are shaded.
“Yes,” skeptics say, “but a lot of people visit the area for baseball and nightlife, so of course there will be more robberies.”
Oh?
Okay. Let’s compare our showing with the 18th district, which includes the nightlife areas of River North, Rush Street, and Division Street, not to mention all of the high rise residences, three university campuses, skyscraper workplaces, hotels, the Mag Mile, about two-thirds of the Lincoln Park neighborhood, and eight CTA rail stations.
Its worst beat, which covers the area around DePaul in Lincoln Park, ranked #75.
After that #75 showing, the rest of the 18th district’s beat rankings are: 112th, 121st, 141st, three tied in 189th place, 219th, and four tied in 231st place.
So, tell us one more time about what should be expected in areas with lots of nightlife and visitors?
UPDATED 27 JULY 2013 3:00PM: Corrected the boundaries of beat 1924. We originally identified the northern boundary as Irving Park Road. In fact, the northern boundary is Addison.
