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More Officers Sent To Far Northwest Side, Fulfilling Top Cop's Promise

 Mayor Rahm Emanuel chats with Jefferson Park Police District Cmdr. Bill Looney at an evening in Dunning.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel chats with Jefferson Park Police District Cmdr. Bill Looney at an evening in Dunning.
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DNAinfo/Heather Cherone

JEFFERSON PARK — Six additional officers have been assigned to the Jefferson Park (16th) Police District, six weeks after Police Supt. Eddie Johnson promised to assign more officers to the Far Northwest Side.

At a meeting hosted by 38th Ward Ald. Nicholas Sposato June 9, Johnson told several hundred people he agreed with several Far Northwest Side aldermen that more officers should to be assigned to the district, which is among the safest ares of of the city, according to crime data.

The officers will work the midnight shift, said Cmdr. Bill Looney.

Approximately 200 officers are assigned to the Jefferson Park (16th) Police District, the largest in the city stretching west from Cicero Avenue to the city limit and north from Belmont Avenue.

The Far Northwest Side has been largely immune from the violence now sweeping the South and West sides.

However, a 38-year-old man was shot and wounded in his leg early Saturday morning in the 6400 block of west Belmont Avenue, police said.

The new officers will have to contend with an uptick in crime throughout the police district, Looney said.

There were 15 robberies between June 20 and July 17 this year, as compared with nine during the same period last year, Looney said.

In addition, there were 48 burglaries between June 20 and July 17 this year, as compared with 31 during the same period last year, Looney said.

Vehicle thefts also rose during the last month, with 45 cars and trucks stolen, as compared with 39 last year, Looney said

The number of shootings throughout the city rose 50 percent in June, although the only shootings on the Far Northwest Side were two in Portage Park.

About 447 people were killed or wounded in 361 shootings this June, a sharp spike from last June, when there were 272 victims in 218 shootings, according to a DNAinfo Chicago analysis of data and the Chicago Police Department.

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