SOUTH LOOP — The recent rash of South Loop street robberies has caught the attention of the new Downtown police commander, who shared his strategy to quell the crimes with neighbors Monday.
Robert Klich, who was named the commander of the city's central police district in December, said he's deploying plainclothes officers in unmarked cars to "put a cap on" the street robberies he said have been spiking since late last year in the neighborhood. Klich shared the plan with neighbors at a town hall meeting hosted by Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd) on Monday night at South Loop Elementary School, 1212 S. Plymouth Court.
The announcement followed an alert issued last month by police about a pair of robbers targeting people approaching their cars in the South Loop. In the robberies, which all took place in the early morning, the two men armed with a gun demand valuables and in one instance stole a victim's car.
Dowell said she's "had to call the commander on a couple things" since he took over late last year. She added that a broken street light at 16th Street and Prairie Avenue has since been fixed in response to the robberies.
Klich, whose district covers an area stretching from Wacker Drive to 31st Street, was promoted after serving as captain of the police department's Area North detectives. Before that, among other posts, Klich said he spent seven years patrolling the central district as a rank-and-file officer. He now takes over for Alfred Nagode, who was promoted to commander of the department's Area Central.
"I'm the new commander, but I'm not new to the [central] district," Klich said.
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