Five shoplifters, described only as black women, swarmed into the Akira women’s store at Clark and Diversey Monday afternoon and escaped with a large selection of shoes. A store employee who chased the thieves down Diversey was clobbered by one of their bags.
The women piled into a dark Chevy Lumina and sped westbound on Diversey.
911 calls about the incident began coming in at 2:17PM yesterday, but no one was assigned to the incident until 2:34PM because no officers were able to take the call. (Case HY120902)
About an hour after the Akira incident, police were called to the American Apparel store at 929 Belmont by employees who recognized a crew of four known black female shoplifters on the sales floor. The would-be thieves left before police arrived. No merchandise was taken.
Slow Service For Lincoln Park
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| Smith |
You’d think Lincoln Park Alderman Michele Smith would be concerned about police service levels in her area after hearing about recent incidents there.
• 17 minute response time for yesterday’s shoplifting mob at Akira.
• 8 minute response time after a crash and grab team drove a van into Best Buy to steal merchandise.
• A 15-minute response time for a recent strong arm robbery victim.
But, no. She says everything is just hunky-dory in Lincoln Park. Voters of the 43rd ward should keep that in mind.
It’s a shame that the city took away 121 of our neighborhood’s police officers, leaving the district too thinly-staffed to allow for proactive policing and prompt responses in “good” areas like LP.
As recently as last week, Alderman Smith was telling public audiences that Clark Street has an officer on foot patrol south of Diversey because of her efforts. FACT: The only foot patrol officers on Clark Street work a 2-block stretch in Wrigleyville, not Lincoln Park. If there were a foot patrol in LP, the police wouldn’t have needed 17 minutes to get to Clark and Diversey. (Hey, somebody had to point that out, Michele.)
