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| Sometimes. Sometimes. |
CWB readers are becoming increasingly familiar with the Chicago police term “RAP.” RAP stands for “Radio Assignments Pending.” It’s a status declared by the Office of Emergency Management and Communications when a police district has run out of police cars to handle calls for service.
During RAPs, calls for help sit around until a police unit frees up. When a unit becomes available, they are immediately assigned to handle a call — usually the highest-priority matter pending.
For the 13th time that we know of, our district entered RAP status at 6:57 this morning. The RAP ended 3 hours and 42 minutes later.
Here’s a list of the calls that were waiting for an officer to become available for dispatch when the RAP started:
• 2800 block of Lincoln – Domestic. Woman battling with the intoxicated husband.
• 3800 block of Hermitage — Man being chased by his intoxicated girlfriend. She hit him and bit him. She has a knife and a baby.
• 1600 block of Irving Park Road — Burglar alarm at a business.
• 3700 N Wilton — Male beating a female on the street.
• Montrose Harbor — Disturbance.
At 7:10AM, the Wilton incident had made its way to 3600 Wilton. The man was reported to have his hands around the woman’s neck at that point. At 7:17, at least 20 minutes after the initial call, a police officer finally made contact with the caller. He was unable to find the couple.
In our district, which has lost 27% of its manpower since late 2011, RAPs are increasingly common, particularly so during the warmer months. The city refuses to release information about RAPs to the public, so CWB maintains our own list of 19th district RAPs for your reference. It doesn’t show all cases, only the those that we have identified.
