WEST TOWN — The former Wood Street Police District in East Village merged with the Near West District in Pilsen in 2012 to create the city's largest policing area, spanning eight communities, including parts of Humboldt Park, East Village, Ukrainian Village, Noble Square and the Near West Side.
In 2012, then Supt. Garry McCarthy referred to residents' concerns about lessened police presence due to the closure of the station at 937 N. Wood St. as "unfounded."
"A building doesn't keep people safe. The cops do," McCarthy said, citing "more officers on the streets and greater efficiencies."
Flash forward four years: In the first seven months of 2016, the West Town Community area has seen twice the amount of shootings and triple the number of wounded victims over the same period last year, according to data compiled by DNAinfo Chicago.
Between January and July this year, there have been 46 shootings, three slayings and 57 people shot and wounded in West Town, as compared to 18 shootings, three killed and 17 wounded during the same time last year.
As of Monday, 1,271 people have signed an online petition, "Restore Adequate Police to 12 (RAP12)" directed to Alds. Walter Burnett, Brian Hopkins, Roberto Maldonado and Joe Moreno, whose wards are in the Near West District.
Kim Shepherd, a Smith Park Neighborhood Alliance board member and volunteer Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS) facilitator for Near West District's "Beat 1221" — bordered by Wood Street on the east, Kedzie Avenue on the west, Chicago Avenue on the north and Kinzie Avenue on the south — told members of a Ukrainian Village Neighborhood Watch group that the Near West District lost rather than gained officers since the merger.
Earlier this month, Shepherd said the Near West District (12th) had 285 officers. The lowered numbers, Shepherd said, were due in part to a total of 44 officers that retired, transferred or were promoted in July.
In 2012, there were over 500 officers in the Near West District, according to Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who presided over the opening of the new environmentally friendly police station at 1412 W. Blue Island Ave.
On Monday, a Near West District police source said that there are "significantly less" police in the district than when the merger of the Wood Street and Near West District occurred.
CPD spokesman Anthony Guglielmi declined to share the number of police officers assigned to patrol the Near West District but he acknowledged "vacancies."
"Additional officers recently joined the 12th District to fill a number of the vacancies, and the district is slated to receive more officers in the coming weeks and months. While CPD continuously evaluates district staffing levels to ensure we have officers in the right places to fight crime, the 12th District will continue to grow as additional officers join the district," Guglielmi said in a statement.
Ald. Joe Moreno (1st) said that he has met with Police Supt. Eddie Johnson to "demand more police in the [Near West/12th] and [Shakespeare/14th] districts.
"[Johnson] guaranteed me that he would start adding officers this month [August] through April," Moreno said last week.
When asked if a "guarantee" included a specific number, Moreno replied only with, "[Johnson's] going to continually update me."
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