Our car was stolen off the street about a week ago. (See post here.) Today, we got a call from the police that it was found a day after it was lost at the end of our block in a private parking lot. The towing company, who also has responsibility for towing cars out of that lot, had it.
My husband had to pay more than $300 to retrieve his car. It was not damaged or broken into, which suggests to us that no one ever drove it. We didn't recall exactly what our mileage was on it, but it hadn't changed significantly while it was away. John's expensive athletic watch, which was in his work-out bag, was still in the car.
I believe the car was towed away in some kind of stinky extortion effort by the towing company.
We've reported it to the police. We're following up. I'll keep you posted.
Then, last Saturday night, we received a call from friends on the 1800 block of North Howe that their front door had been kicked in! And, their giant tv set was carted away along with a second, smaller tv. Thank god they weren't home.
Take a look at this:
Between January 17, 2007 and January 31, 2007, a 15-day period of bone-chilling cold, there were 196 crimes within a one mile radius of 600 West Willow (represented by the black diamond). (I chose this address at random because it's kind of in the center of the area where I live.)
The map above right represents the location and types of crimes. It is taken from the police department's Citizen's ICAM.
Red circles = Crimes against Persons
There were 28 total.
18 battery, 3 assault, 5 robbery, 1 weapons violation, and 1 offense involving children.
Green squares = Property Crimes
There were 151 property crimes total.
33 Criminal damage, 7 deceptive practice, 75 thefts, 20 criminal trespasses, 11 burglaries, 5 motor vehicle thefts (We're one of them).
Blue Triangle = Crimes against Society (Narcotics in this instance)
There was 1.
Red Circle inside Yellow Circle= Crimes against Persons (Domestic Violence)
There were 7 crimes against persons/incidents of domestic violence.
5 batteries, 1 assault, 1 offense involving a minor.
Green Square inside Yellow Circle = Crimes against Property (Domestic)
1 Criminal Damage.
Yellow Triangle = Other and Undetermined
8 Undetermined.
1 Interference with a public officer, 3 other offenses, and 4 non-criminal
All I'm saying is it was mighty cold during the time frame that all this crime was going on, and I'm not at all happy with those numbers. It's not okay by me.
I'll be watching for some kind of follow-through from the police, and I'll be listening mighty carefully to our aldermanic candidates for their take on the situation.
4 comments:
Here's an alternate view of the crimes around 600 W. Willow on my site, chicagocrime.org. The advantage here is that you can link to the actual address page / crime report (which Citizen ICAM doesn't let you do).
If you have any thoughts on how I can improve chicagocrime.org, let me know!
Hi, I'm happy to know about this site. Someday when I get my blogroll back up and running, I'll be sure to include it.
2 questions: what is your data source, and can I search by a range of dates beyond 2 weeks?
The latter is what frustrated me a bit about ICAM. It was great to see on yours that I can get information beyond last November. You can't do that on ICAM. Nice graphics on yours, too.
Thanks for stopping by. . .
Hi Jennifer,
My data source is Citizen ICAM itself. Check out the about page for more details.
Yes, you can search for a range beyond two weeks. My site includes every crime that has appeared on Citizen ICAM since Nov. 2, 2005. With that said, it's a tough problem to display a *lot* of data without making it overwhelming, so most of the chicagocrime.org pages focus on the *most recent* crimes -- but play around with it and let me know how you think it can be improved.
Obviously we need more blue flashing lights on telephone poles.
I'm glad the car was found. Looks like towing companies are gathering some scrutiny for their dastardly deeds.
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