4-Dec-14 – River North, says the Chicago police commander whose 18th district stretches from the Chicago River to Fullerton Avenue, is “one of the safest neighborhoods in the city.”

The neighborhood is on target toward a second consecutive year in which the total number of incidents declined from the previous year.

Through November 25, 2014, there have been 5,066 crime incidents reported in the police sector just north of the Chicago River. This includes four police beats that cover all of River North and Streeterville.

(Above) The area in blue is “Sector 3” of the 18th police district, the North Larrabee Avenue headquarters of which is indicated by the black star. Sector 3 stretches from Navy Pier at right all along the main branch of the Chicago River and up the north branch of the river at left. Then it follows Chicago Avenue east to Wells Street, goes north on Wells Street, then east on Oak Street back to Lake Michigan.

“The fact of the matter is that crime is down all throughout the River North area,” says 18th district police commander William Dunn.

He says burglaries this year, compared with the same period last year, “are down quite dramatically.”

“Burglaries have kind of dropped off the table, both residential and commercial. Robberies are about even from what they were last year. Motor vehicle thefts are down a little bit so most of the property related crimes are down as well as some of the violent crimes.” (Left) A Chicago police van passes a film crew on the State Street Bridge.

Theft, on the other hand, has stayed about the same since 2013.

“The bars and restaurants and the stores are our three biggest spots where we have the thefts,” Dunn told Loop North News on Tuesday. “People leave purses laying around, they leave their cell phones laying around, they leave their laptops laying around and people come along and take them. And that’s where we’re seeing the biggest increase.”

The number of police officers assigned to River North, he says, has not changed in the last two years. “Unfortunately, we can’t be everywhere all the time, every single block, at every minute of the day.”

A common misperception, he says, is that there are fewer officers patrolling.

“Just because you don’t see them doesn’t mean they’re not there. We do have guys working plain clothes, too, and driving normal cars and you would never know they were the police but they’re in and around the neighborhood.” (Right) 18th district police commander William Dunn at a charity event at Dick’s Last Resort on December 12, 2012.

Committing the crimes, in general, says Dunn, are not the residents of River North but visitors, often from troubled neighborhoods south and west of the Loop.

“It’s the people who come in from other places who don’t care about the neighborhood and don’t care what they do.”

Theft still River North’s biggest crime problem

According to data from the City of Chicago, 44 percent of all crime in the 18th police district’s Sector 3, which includes beats 1831, 1832, 1833, and 1834, is theft – theft from buildings, retail theft, and other varieties of theft, and this has not dramatically changed at least for the past five years. Simple battery has accounted for about seven percent of all crime since 2009. Credit card fraud, about five percent, and pocket picking, about four percent.

“The area has become a victim of its own success,” says Dunn.

Last year, the month with the most incidents was July and the month with the fewest incidents was February. The worst day of the week for crime victims was Saturday and the best day was Monday. Crime peaked for the day between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. and the hour between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. was the safest.

In 2014, ten percent of all crime has happened in restaurants, ten percent in department stores, and ten percent on the street. These three have been the most common locations for crime in River North for the past five years.

(Above) River North from Marina City on June 3, 2010.

Dunn, a 30-year police veteran, took over in September 2012 for Kenneth Angarone, who is now working in the department’s vice section. Angarone had been commander since September 2009. Dunn started as a patrolman in the Englewood community on Chicago’s south side. He was a lieutenant for eleven years, working at CPD’s Area 2 homicide division, Area 3 robbery and burglary unit, and the narcotics section.

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