Good morning, everyone, it's 11:33am. Sorry for being gone for such a long time, but as you all know, I've been very busy with school, and particularly in the last couple of weeks for finals. I'm happy to report that this is my last day of school until the first week of June, and I'll only have one class over the summer. Today, I have one class that I need to go to, and that's just to turn in a paper, so I'll have my microphone recording calls. Very warm day we have here, for the first time in who knows how long. Mid 80s today. I'm sure crime will likely pick up, but we'll see. Not totally sure what my monitoring schedule will be for today or for tomorrow, but I do plan on monitoring 25. With that, here's crime for today.
12:56pm - Battery in progress. 3121 N Pulaski Rd. At the ASPIRA School. Group of kids fighting in front.
12:57pm - Beat 4314 is in front of the school now and says no one is fighting. 19P.
1:07pm - Battery in progress. George and Karlov.
2:01pm - Beat 2506Charlie is doing a follow-up at 26XX N Lawndale.
2:07pm - 2506C is taking one in from the Lawndale stop.
2:44pm - Person down. 28XX N Harding.
4:15pm - Burglar alarm. 30XX N Lowell.
5:06pm - 1) Gang disturbance. Lawndale and Wrightwood. Two male Hispanics, one who is 6'1, 350 lbs, with a yellow hat and the other one who is short with a red hat are standing on the corner, looking at people as they go by. 2) Beat car 2524 is getting a call stacked on their PDT.
5:09pm - Gang disturbance. 24XX N Monticello.
5:36pm - Municipal ordinance violation. Wrightwood and Central Park. Male selling ice cream on the street.
5:40pm - Disturbance. 36XX W Oakdale. Seven homeless males sleeping in front.
5:41pm - Parker. On 2523's Beat.
5:42pm - Beat 2583 is doing foot patrol on the 4400 block of W Diversey. Event number is 12992.
5:56pm - Battery in progress. Central Park and Oakdale. Three guys fighting in front of the bar.
6:07pm - 1) Gang disturbance. 23XX N Harding. They're harassing people in the alley. 2) Vice complaint. On 2525's Beat.
4 comments:
It seems the warm weather brings out the homeless. The biggest problem is the liquor stores who sell the cheap malt liquor and half pints. I see the same homeless guy drunk as a skunk by noon. The city needs to go after their liquor licenses.
It's not just the liquor stores... it's the bars and the people who live here as well. That bar at the corner of Oakdale and Central Park overserves their customers all the time. Just this week I watched one of the street guys drag two of his friends out the back door. It was a struggle, because they were so drunk they were on the ground inside the bar. Rumor has it some of the patrons get their mail delivered to the bar and get their checks cashed for bar tab.
A neighbor of mine puts food and leftover wine out on their garbage cans everyday.
And I watch people buy these guys booze and food all the time. I've stupidly bought them food once, and they thanked me and went straight to liquor store with their food money to buy a $2.37 bottle of vodka.
It's a compounded problem. Getting their licenses taken away is difficult, because the neighbors would have to take off work to go to court a bunch of times.
The homeless drunks are the least of this neighborhood's worries. In my 20+ years of living here, they've never done much of anything but mind their own business and drink their lives away. The problem is the gangs. That's where the focus needs to be. First and foremost. I'd walk past a group of homeless people and think nothing of it. But a group of 20-something year old men scare the ship out of me.
The bars & liquor store owners contribute to the crime our area. The city should outlaw malt liquor and half pints. It would reduce vagrancy & panhandling.
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