Lakeview Was a Great Neighborhood

With carjackings spinning out of control, you would think that they would be a focus of Chicago PD. Another carjacking reported in Lakeview, where hijackings have tripled this year - CWB Chicago

Lakeview is one of the 77 neighborhoods in Chicago. (Sometimes you see that as 2 words, but I think most Chicagoans would say 1 word is correct.) As the name implies it is bordered on the east by Lake Michigan. It is home to Wrigley Field, and an untold number of sports bars and eateries catering to Cubs fans and more.

A tiny slice of Lakeview is known as Boystown, which was - at least back in the day - home to some of the better clubs in the city, though I tended to go to the larger clubs closer to downtown, or the a couple of more low-key bars in suburbia. (It was always fun to bring work friends out to the clubs, and watch the guys cling to their wives/girlfriends for protection lest they attract amorous attention of the gays.)

Chicago police took 450 carjacking reports this year through April 5, up from 435 during the period last year.

There were "only" 114 carjackings the same period in 2019.

I said that you might think this would be a focus of the Chicago PD. You would be mistaken. High-ranking CPD cop instructed officers to target “possible non-residents” for traffic stops in Chinatown, emails show.

One of the Chicago Police Department’s highest-ranking leaders has repeatedly instructed officers under his command to concentrate “enforcement actions” on people that they think live in other parts of town, according to emails provided to CWB Chicago.

Of course cops are supposed to do this while avoiding stuff like racial profiling. No indication was given for how cops should identify someone who doesn't live in Chinatown.

There's an outstanding question of whether or not this is going on in other neighborhoods, and how cops would identify people who don't live in a particular neighborhood.

Superintendent Brown said that the emails were “poorly written.” He didn't contradict the part about needing more traffic stops. I guess the city needs the revenue.

We also asked why Brown is focusing on the volume of traffic stops and how traffic stops affect the city’s crime rate.

For now, those questions remain unanswered.