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Batteries, Robberies Up Slightly in Wicker, Most Other Crimes Down

By Alisa Hauser | August 14, 2014 8:10am
 Residents attended an outdoor community policing meeting Wednesday in Wicker Park.
Outdoor CAPS Meeting
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WICKER PARK — Simple batteries or fights and robberies have increased slightly, while other crimes such as retail thefts, assaults and damage to vehicles have declined in one Wicker Park police beat that includes the namesake park, police announced Wednesday. 

Shakespeare District Officer Gretchen Chavez delivered the statistics for the period from June 4-Aug. 13. at an outdoor community policing meeting attended by about 15 residents in the park, 1425 N. Damen Ave.

For Beat 1424 — bordered by North Avenue, Division Street, Wood Street and Western Avenue — there were 23 reports of simple battery and eight robberies during the two-month period.

That's compared to 17 simple battery reports and three robberies in the two-month period ending in early June.

Most of the strong-arm robberies, which did not include weapons, occurred in the North, Milwaukee and Damen avenues area in the early morning, Chavez said. 

"People being inebriated and leaving bars while talking on their cell phones have had their phones snatched out of their hands," Chavez said.

While retail thefts were down, with just 11 incidences compared to 18 in the prior period, thefts from buildings were up, with nine reports compared to four in the prior period.

Chavez said some of the thefts were of bicycles that were sitting on first- or second-floor back porches and were unlocked, making the bikes easy targets for criminals walking in alleys.

Beat officers said they continue to make gains in "impact arrests" for crimes such as drunken driving and graffiti, with five DUI arrests and two graffiti arrests in the 1400 and 1900 blocks of North Milwaukee.

In all, 70 arrests occurred in the period, four of which were for burglaries, officers said.

Chavez said one of the burglary arrests, at a restaurant in the 1400 block of North Milwaukee, was of an offender who had five other previous burglary convictions.

In another notable arrest, Nigel Douglas, 19, of the 700 block of West Reba in Evanston, was arrested on July 17 and charged with a felony of after he tried to sell a stolen bicycle at Cash America, a pawn shop at 2007 W. North Ave.

After the meeting, reactions to the outdoor format, which included grilled hot dogs, were favorable.

Mark Amundson, a volunteer CAPS facilitator said, "Being outdoors was great, we can enjoy the lovely park."

Capt. Marc Buslik, who greeted people at the start of the meeting, said, "No matter how many hipster bars open, we consider the park to be the heart of the beat and we do not want residents to feel isolated from police."

Buslik encouraged residents to follow the police on Twitter at @ChicagoCAPS14.

Beat 1424's next meeting is 7 p.m. Oct. 8 in the Wicker Park field house, 1425 N. Damen Ave.

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