The city’s well-organized scooter theft teams have been hitting the Bucktown and Wicker Park neighborhoods in recent weeks. According to an alert from Area Five detectives, the thieves have recently stolen at least nine scooters from parking spaces on the neighborhoods’ streets.
In one recent case, a surveillance camera recorded images of two thieves placing a scooter in a white truck and driving away. Police did not describe the suspects in their community alert.
Citywide, 218 scooter-type vehicles were reported stolen through September 15 this year. That’s up 70% compared to the 128 cases reported during the same period last year.
In the Bucktown and Wicker Park areas, scooter thefts have taken place on:
- the 1600 block of West Cortland at 10 p.m. September 2
- the 1600 block of West Cortland at 10 a.m. September 3
- the 1600 block of West Cortland sometime between September 2 and 3
- the 2000 block of West Shakespeare sometime between September 8 and 9
- the 2000 block of West Shakespeare at 7 p.m. on September 8
- the 2000 block of West Shakespeare at 3 p.m. on September 9
- the 1900 block of West Cortland on September 22 or 23
- the 1800 block of North Wolcott on September 22 or 23
- the 1700 block of West Julian at 1:30 a.m. September 25
Anyone with information about the crimes can contact Area Five detectives at 312-746-7394 regarding pattern P20-5-059.
Detectives issued a similar alert about scooter thefts in the downtown area and Lincoln Park over the summer. An 18-time convicted felon was arrested in connection with that pattern less than two weeks later.
However, a CPD source said at the time that some cops believe the scooter thefts are part of a much larger ring that steals the vehicles and then sells them at discounted rates online and on the city’s West Side.