Lakeview residents are growing increasingly irritated by a two year growth in crime in the North Side neighborhood, typically deemed one of Chicago’s safest. Violent crime last month was the highest it’s been in Lakeview in June in more than five years. This follows a brief three-month decrease.
Use the menus below to compare this year’s violent crime stats with previous years’. (The chart excludes homicides, significantly low in Lakievew.)
Some community members have turned to the Web and police beat meetings to sound off. They say the area, popular for its Cubs-driven sports culture and gay-friendly nightlife, is growing more and more unsafe for residents.
“It seems like over the past three years, something’s happened,” one Lakeview resident told police offers at a local beat meeting Thursday.”This is the most unsafe I’ve felt in this neighborhood,” said another.
Online spaces, like Crime In Boystown & Wrigleyville and Take Back Boystown, track crime reports in the neighborhood and discuss the issue. A common sentiment on the sites is that, despite brief crime declines, the neighborhood is in decay. Users have posted comments like “We need to take back our neighbourhoods! Get the criminals out!” and “This must stop. We must take action to stop the neighborhood going down the drain!!”
Ald. Tom Tunney (44th), called some of the concerns a “Not In My Backyard issue” and a perception of safety. That was in response to some residents who blame the crime on youth-focused community programs that attract younger, inner-city visitors to the mostly white, middle-class region.
But police officers say many of the attacks are driven by late night robberies. Unsuspecting victims are sometimes inebriated or exposing coveted merchandise like iPhones and iPads.
Lakeview residents say they will continue to attend beat meetings and discuss solutions until crime stays down.
Use the menu below to view violent crime trends in Lakeview from 2007-2012. (The chart excludes homicides, significantly low in the area.)
Data source: City of Chicago. Crime data 2001 -July 2013
