WICKER PARK — Just one day after Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced plans to crack down on the lucrative black market for stolen cell phones, the top cop from the Chicago Police Department's organized crime bureau said he's sending extra patrols to Wicker Park.
Chief Anthony Riccio, who runs the Chicago Police Department's bureau of organized crime, echoed Emanuel's vow of a crack down at a press conference Thursday afternoon at Damen and Pierce avenues in Wicker Park.
Riccio said an unspecified number of officers — both uniformed and plain clothes — from the organized crime bureau will be joining the Shakespeare Police District (14th), which includes parts of Wicker Park, Bucktown and Logan Square, to combat the growing issue.
He said the district will start off focusing on Wicker Park, though phone robberies occur in communities all across the city, with 14,000 cell phones reported citywide last year.
When asked why Wicker Park was designated, Riccio said there has been an uptick in the neighborhood, including four incidents that triggered an alert late Wednesday that "we know for sure are linked," he said.
"We are seeing a pattern of robberies, four guys targeting phones and tablets in this area," Riccio said.
The district has already been putting officers on other shifts to have more coverage when the crimes occur, usually late at night and early in the morning, Shakespeare District Cmdr. Fabian Saldana said after the conference.
"Any additional officers are always welcome," Saldana told DNAinfo.
On Wednesday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel, along with 14th Ward Ald. Ed Burke, chairman of the City Council's Finance Committee, announced plans for a new measure that would require retailers of used phones to consult a database of mobile devices before completing a sale.
The new ordinance, Riccio said, will make it so "there is no value" in stolen phones.
"This is going to take the profit out of it and make those phones and tablets that are being stolen completely useless. There will be no value to them and we are confidant that is going to help in driving down a lot of these robberies we are seeing," Riccio said.
In the alert, issued late Wednesday, police warned neighbors that groups of young men robbed people in Wicker Park and Bucktown at gunpoint four times in one weekend earlier this month — taking iPad, cell phones, wallets, credits cards and cash.
The four robberies occurred in the Shakespeare Police District (14th) between 3:30 a.m. July 8 and 10:55 p.m. July 9. The incidents happened at these locations within Wicker Park:
- 2100 block of West Crystal Street, July 8 at 3:35 a.m.
- 2000 block of West Pierce Avenue, July 9 at 4:40 a.m.
- 2100 block of West Moffat Street, July 9, 2017 at 5:00 a.m.
There was one incident in Bucktown:
- 2000 block of West Shakespeare Avenue, July 9, 2017 at 10:55 p.m.
The robbers in each of these cases were described as four to five "skinny" black men in their late teens or early 20s, armed with a small black handgun. One man had dreadlocks and others wore jeans, police said.
In an email, Christian Ficara, a spokesman for Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd), whose ward covers parts of Wicker Park, said the alderman is "advocating for an increased focus of police patrols on groups of young males packed into a single vehicle, driving repetitively up and down side streets."
"We understand and are encouraged that Chicago Police have some solid leads that they are currently pursuing and are hopeful that arrests can be made in this case," Ficara added.
Ald. Joe Moreno (1st), whose ward also covers parts of Wicker Park, couldn't be immediately be reached for comment. Both Hopkins and Moreno have been pressing for more police patrols, as well as private security guards paid for by taxpayers, since a crime spike last summer.
Under Emanuel's measure, secondhand cell phone sellers who fail to follow the new regulations could find themselves without a license to do business. City officials also could confiscate the phones, officials said.
The issue hits close to home for Emanuel, whose then 17-year-old son, Zach Emanuel, was on his cellphone with his college counselor when he was approached from behind, assaulted and robbed of his phone just after 10 p.m. on Dec. 19, 2014, his father said.
Shakespeare District Commander Fabian Saldana pic.twitter.com/NGaTPf53GR
— Alisa Hauser (@DNA_WPB) July 27, 2017
