LINCOLN SQUARE — CAPS isn't dead yet but someone apparently forgot to tell the residents of Beat 2031.
A lone neighbor, three Medill journalism students and a DNAinfo.com Chicago reporter attended Tuesday night's Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy meeting held at Swedish Covenant's Anderson Pavilion.
The beat — bounded by Lawrence and Foster, Leavitt and the Chicago River — is a relatively quiet one, particularly when compared with the city's 17th Police District immediately to the west, but it still suffers from a small yet persistent gang presence.
Officer Libby Godinez reported that the Latin Kings and Spanish Gangster Disciples have increased graffiti tagging in the area around Western, Ainslie and Carmen. Gross Park, at Lawrence and Washtenaw, is another known gang hangout.
Godinez, though, had little information on some other incidents, including a reported shooting and "drug house" in the 4700 block of North Talman. That took place on the south side of Lawrence, which is in the 19th Police District.
Godinez also had little information on the department's efforts to thwart catalytic converter thieves.
She did have a list of the top 10 crimes on the beat, tallied from Sept. 25 through Wednesday. Theft and battery led the way, with 27 and 26 reported incidents, respectively. In total, there were 134 incidents in the area, and 25 arrests were made.
The next meeting for Beat 2031 is scheduled for 7 p.m. Jan. 29 at Anderson Pavilion.
