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After three consecutive years of record-high robbery reports, the three police beats that cover Wrigleyville and Boystown are off to a solid start this year.
The beats have seen a combined 41 robberies through May 31. The beats had more than 70 robberies during the first five months of 2013, 2012, and 2011.
This year has recorded the third-lowest robbery tally since 2001 according to the city’s Data Portal.
Now, here comes the hard part: Keeping control of the neighborhood during the summer months.
Our shorthanded officers will be tied up more often in the next few months, leaving fewer officers (if any) to respond to 911 calls in a timely manner.
Proactive tactics that kept robbery activity low so far this year—things such as street stops and alley patrols—may be scuttled as officers find themselves occupied with other matters.
June, July, and August of 2012 and 2013 were the six worst months for robberies in our neighborhood since 2001. If the district leadership and, of course, officers on the street can find a way to turn the tide over the next 12 weeks, we may be on to something in the robbery department.
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* Regarding Historical Robbery Statistics For Police Beats 1923, 1924, and 1925: The Chicago Police Department changed the borders of our district’s police beats in March 2012.
The current outside borders of beats 1923, 1924, and 1925 are Belmont, Southport, Irving Park Road, and Lake Michigan. The beats are divided down the middle of those streets with the inside portion of the “box” being in 1923, 1924, and 1925. In order to maintain accurate year-to-year historical comparisons, CWB includes robberies that occur on both sides of those streets in this data set because it is impossible to know which side of the street crimes took place on before the re-map. As a result, CWB’s stats for these beats may vary slightly from officials statistics.
