Burglary Alert: Police say Theme Links One-Third of Burglaries

Chicago Police in the 19^th District are handing out flyers letting residents know of a common theme found among area burglaries in Lake View.

While it may seem simple, police report that more than one-third of Lake View burglaries are currently due to open doors or open windows. They say to always lock doors, windows and garage doors, even if you plan to only be gone for a second.

This comes after new District Commander Elias Voulgaris reported a decrease in area robberies, but said burglaries aren’t getting better.

“As much as we’re trying, our burglaries are steady,” Voulgaris said. “I’d say as high as 95 percent of burglaries can be prevented if we just shut our windows, shut our doors and shut our garage doors. Along with our enforcement mission, we’re going to try to get the word out on how to not be a victim of burglaries and robberies.”

More than 1,000 burglaries and robberies have been reported in the 19^th District between June 1 and Nov. 1, with a majority of them occurring in the neighborhood surrounding Wrigley Field, North Halsted Street in Boystown and the Belmont Avenue CTA stop. The corner of Wrightwood Avenue and Clark Street in Lincoln Park also ranked highly on the heat map.

Voulgaris attributes the decline in robberies to new “quality of life” squad cars that handle issues dealing with residents’ quality of life, including burglaries, robberies and intoxicated or suspicious individuals on the streets. In addition, the commander says there’s a new plain-clothes team that patrols the district.

If residents have questions, they’re encouraged to call the 19^th District’s CAPS office at 312-744-0064, or email the department directly.

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