DOCSLIB.ORG

Community Policing in Chicago, Year 1\Vo: an Interim Report

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Community Policing in Chicago, Year 1\Vo: an Interim Report If you have issues viewing or accessing this file contact us at NCJRS.gov. ·_~, '. -I • ' . .... Community Policing in Chicago, Year 1\vo: An Interim Report June 1995 Prepared by the Chicago Community Policing Evaluation Consortium Evaluation funded by Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority u.s. Department of Justice , National Institute of Justice Chicago Community Foundation John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Jim Edgar, Governor Bob Kustra, Lieutenant Governor Peter B. Bensinger, Chairman Thomas F. Baker, Executive Director I ... '. ~ ~ ...; •. r- ... ~ .,-. oJ ill ~ w u l~'·.--rr. .~ .• :.". ~ Community Policing in Chicago, Year Two: An Interim Report Prepared by The Chicago Community Policing Evaluation Consortium Wesley G. Skogan Susan F. Bennett Susan M. Hartnett Paul J. Lavrakas Justine H. Lovig Arthur J. Lurigio Jill DuBois Richard L. Block Sheila Hournes Dennis P. Rosenbaum Sirgulina Davidsdottir Scott Althaus Robert VanStedum Dominique Whelan Marianne Kaiser Tabatha R. Johnson Dana Cole Lynn Higgins Noelle Gonzalez .l\CQUISITiON§ The Chicago Community Policing Evaluation Consortium is coordinated by the Center for Urban Affairs and Policy Research, Northwestern University. It also includes faculty and students from Loyola University of Chicago, DePaul University and the University of Illinois-Chicago, and staff members from the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority. It is supported by grants from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Chicago Community Foundation, the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority and the National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice. June 1995 156071 U.S. Department of Justi~e National Institute of Justice d d exactly as received from the This document has been re~ro ,uceoints of view or opinions stated in person or organization onr:gat\O~~t. ~ and do not necessarily represent ;~~ ~~~i~rp:~tf~~ ~~~~~c~es ~ ~~ NOationallnstitute of Justice, Permission to reproduce this copyrighted matenal has been gra'f:Ltiflnois erirlinal Justice _ Information tIJJtbor; tv to the National Criminal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS): , Further reproduction outside of the NCJRS system requires permiSSion of the copyright owner. r I I This project was supported by Grant#91-DB-CX-0017 and Grant #92-DB-CX-0017, awarded to the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The Assistant Attorney General, Office of Justice Pro­ grams, coordinates the activities of the following program offices and bureaus: Bureau of Justice Assistance, Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Institute of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the Office for Victims of Crime. Points of view or opinions contained within this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the lllinois Criminal Justice Information Authority or the U.S. Department of Justice. The research was also supported in part by awards #94-IJ-CX-0046, 93-IJ-CX-K014, 94-IJ­ CX-0011 from the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view in the document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the U.S. Department of Justice. Printed by the authority of the state of Illinois, June 1995, 95-80/3,000. Table of Contents Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................................... 5 Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................... 9 Managing Organizational Change ................................................................................................................................ 11 Downtown Planning Activities ............................................................................................................................. 11 Training ................................................................................................................................................................ 13 District Administrative Managers ......................................................................................................................... 22 City Hall and CAPS Implementation .................................................................................................................... 24 The Program in the Community ................................................................................................................................... 26 Beat Meetings ....................................................................................................................................................... 26 Partnerships in Action ........................................................................................................................................... 38 Community Organization Involvement ................................................................................................................ 50 District Advisory Committees ............................................................................................................................... 63 Court Advocacy In Action .................................................................................................................................... 74 Building Partnerships: Community And Police Joint Training ............................................................................ 76 Program Impact ............................................................................................................................................................ 79 Visibility of the Program ....................................................................................................................................... 80 Assessments of the Quality of Police Service ........................................................................................................ 80 Impact on Neighborhood Problems .......................................................................................... : ........................... 83 Looking Toward Year Three ........................................................................................................................................ 99 Project Papers .............................................................................................................. ,...................... Inside Back Cover Figures Figure 1 ......... Citywide Personal and Property Crime Trends .................................................................................... 10 Figure 2 ......... Optimism about CAPS Impact .............................................................................................................. 19 Figure 3 ......... Top Problems at Beat Meetings ............................................................................................................ 33 Figure 4 ......... District Progress Toward the CAPS Model .......................................................................................... 39 Figure 5 ......... Trend in Policing Last Year .................................................................................................................. 82 Figure 6 ......... Changes in Police Responsiveness by District ..................................................................................... 84 Figure 7 ......... Changes in Police Responsiveness by Group ....................................................................................... 85 Figure 8 ......... Neighborhood Problems in Englewood ................................................................................................ 90 Figure 9 ......... Neighborhood Problems in Marquette .................................................................................................. 91 Figure 10 ....... Neighborhood Problems in Austin ....................................................................................................... 92 Figure 11 ....... Neighbol'hood Problems in Morgan Park ............................................................................................. 93 Figure 12 ....... Neighborhood Problems in Rogers Park ............................................................................................... 94 Figure 13 ....... Changes in Crime Problems by District ................................................................................................ 95 Figure 14 ....... Changes in Gang and Drug Problems by District ................................................................................. 96 Figure 15 ....... Changes in Physical Decay by District ................................................................................................. 97 Tables Table 1 .......... Problems Discussed in Beat Meetings .................................................................................................. 34 Table 2 .......... PercentofOrganizations Involved in CAPS ..................................................................... ,.. ,.............. ,54 Table 3 ,......... Percentage of Organizations Involved in CAPS Activity Factors ........................................................ 57 Table 4 .......... Distribution of Organization Types by District ...........................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Estimating the Causal Effect of Gangs in Chicago†
    Competition in the Black Market: Estimating the Causal Effect of Gangs in Chicago† Bravo Working Paper # 2021-004 Jesse Bruhn † Abstract: I study criminal street gangs using new data that describes the geospatial distribution of gang territory in Chicago and its evolution over a 15-year period. Using an event study design, I show that city blocks entered by gangs experience sharp increases in the number of reported batteries (6%), narcotics violations (18.5%), weapons violations (9.8%), incidents of prostitution (51.9%), and criminal trespassing (19.6%). I also find a sharp reduction in the number of reported robberies (-8%). The findings cannot be explained by pre-existing trends in crime, changes in police surveillance, crime displacement, exposure to public housing demolitions, reporting effects, or demographic trends. Taken together, the evidence suggests that gangs cause small increases in violence in highly localized areas as a result of conflict over illegal markets. I also find evidence that gangs cause reductions in median property values (-$8,436.9) and household income (-$1,866.8). Motivated by these findings, I explore the relationship between the industrial organization of the black market and the supply of criminal activity. I find that gangs that are more internally fractured or operate in more competitive environments tend to generate more crime. This finding is inconsistent with simple, market-based models of criminal behavior, suggesting an important role for behavioral factors and social interactions in the production of gang violence. Keywords: Competition, Crime, Gangs, Neighborhoods, Urban, Violence JEL classification: J46, K24, O17, R23, Z13 __________________________________ † Previously circulated under the title "The Geography of Gang Violence.” * Economics Department, Brown University.
    [Show full text]
  • CRIME and VIOLENCE in CHICAGO a Geography of Segregation and Structural Disadvantage
    CRIME AND VIOLENCE IN CHICAGO a Geography of Segregation and Structural Disadvantage Tim van den Bergh - Master Thesis Human Geography Radboud University, 2018 i Crime and Violence in Chicago: a Geography of Segregation and Structural Disadvantage Tim van den Bergh Student number: 4554817 Radboud University Nijmegen Master Thesis Human Geography Master Specialization: ‘Conflicts, Territories and Identities’ Supervisor: dr. O.T Kramsch Nijmegen, 2018 ii ABSTRACT Tim van den Bergh: Crime and Violence in Chicago: a Geography of Segregation and Structural Disadvantage Engaged with the socio-historical making of space, this thesis frames the contentious debate on violence in Chicago by illustrating how a set of urban processes have interacted to maintain a geography of racialized structural disadvantage. Within this geography, both favorable and unfavorable social conditions are unequally dispersed throughout the city, thereby impacting neighborhoods and communities differently. The theoretical underpinning of space as a social construct provides agency to particular institutions that are responsible for the ‘making’ of urban space in Chicago. With the use of a qualitative research approach, this thesis emphasizes the voices of people who can speak about the etiology of crime and violence from personal experience. Furthermore, this thesis provides a critique of social disorganization and broken windows theory, proposing that these popular criminologies have advanced a problematic normative production of space and impeded effective crime policy and community-police relations. Key words: space, disadvantage, race, crime & violence, Chicago (Under the direction of dr. Olivier Kramsch) iii Table of Contents Chapter 1 - Introduction ..................................................................................................... 1 § 1.1 Studying crime and violence in Chicago .................................................................... 1 § 1.2 Research objective ...................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Examining Crime Hotspots in Chicago Using Bayesian Statistics
    Examining Crime Hotspots in Chicago Using Bayesian Statistics Abstract Chicago currently leads the United States with the greatest number of homicides and violent crimes in recent years. Using police data from the City of Chicago’s Data Portal, we examined crime hot spots in Chicago and whether crime rates differ by geographic and demographic information. In general, we found that crime rate in Chicago has decreased between 2010 and 2015, though the rates differed between violent and non-violent crimes. Change in crime rate also varied geographically. We found that for areas with lower white populations, crime decreased as income rose. For areas with larger non-white populations, crime rate increased as income increased 1 1 Introduction Chicago currently leads the United States with the greatest number of homicides and violent crimes in recent years. In 2016, the number of homicides in Chicago increased 58% from the year before (Ford, 2017). Using police data from the City of Chicago’s Data Portal, we examined crime hot spots in Chicago and whether crime rates differ by geographic and demographic information. In this report, we defined hot spots as zipcodes with greater increases, or smaller decreases, in crime rates over time relative to other zipcodes in Chicago. In addition, we examined hot spots for both violent and non-violent crimes. Understanding crime hot spots can prove advantageous to law enforcement as they can better understand crime trends and create crime management strategies accordingly (Law, et al. 2014). A common approach to defining crime hot spots uses crime density. Thus, hot spots by this definition are areas with high crime rates that are also surrounded by other high-crime areas for one time period.
    [Show full text]
  • The Impact of COVID-19 on Crime: a Spatial Temporal Analysis in Chicago
    International Journal of Geo-Information Article The Impact of COVID-19 on Crime: A Spatial Temporal Analysis in Chicago Mengjie Yang 1 , Zhe Chen 1, Mengjie Zhou 1,2,* , Xiaojin Liang 3 and Ziyue Bai 1 1 College of Resources and Environmental Science, Hunan Normal University, Changsha 410081, China; [email protected] (M.Y.); [email protected] (Z.C.); [email protected] (Z.B.) 2 Key Laboratory of Geospatial Big Data Mining and Applications, Changsha 410081, China 3 School of Resources and Environmental Science, Wuhan University, 129 Luoyu Road, Wuhan 430079, China; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had tremendous and extensive impacts on the people’s daily activities. In Chicago, the numbers of crime fell considerably. This work aims to investigate the impacts that COVID-19 has had on the spatial and temporal patterns of crime in Chicago through spatial and temporal crime analyses approaches. The Seasonal-Trend decomposition procedure based on Loess (STL) was used to identify the temporal trends of different crimes, detect the outliers of crime events, and examine the periodic variations of crime distributions. The results showed a certain phase pattern in the trend components of assault, battery, fraud, and theft. The largest outlier occurred on 31 May 2020 in the remainder components of burglary, criminal damage, and robbery. The spatial point pattern test (SPPT) was used to detect the similarity between Citation: Yang, M.; Chen, Z.; Zhou, the spatial distribution patterns of crime in 2020 and those in 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016, and to M.; Liang, X.; Bai, Z.
    [Show full text]
  • GUN VIOLENCE in CHICAGO, 2016 GUN VIOLENCE in CHICAGO, 2016 January 2017 University of Chicago Crime Lab1
    GUN VIOLENCE IN CHICAGO, 2016 GUN VIOLENCE IN CHICAGO, 2016 January 2017 University of Chicago Crime Lab1 Acknowledgments: The University of Chicago Crime Lab is a privately-funded, independent, non-partisan academic research center founded in 2008 to help cities identify the most effective and humane ways to control crime and violence, and reduce the harms associated with the administration of criminal justice. We are grateful to the Chicago Police Department for making available the data upon which this report is based, to Ben Hansen for help assembling data on Chicago weather patterns, and to Aaron Chalfin, Philip Cook, Aurélie Ouss, Harold Pollack, and Shari Runner for valuable comments. We thank the Joyce Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the McCormick Foundation, and the Pritzker Foundation for support of the University of Chicago Crime Lab and Urban Labs, as well as Susan and Tom Dunn, and Ira Handler. All opinions and any errors are our own and do not necessarily reflect those of our funders or of any government agencies. 1 This report was produced by Max Kapustin, Jens Ludwig, Marc Punkay, Kimberley Smith, Lauren Speigel, and David Welgus, with the invaluable assistance of Roseanna Ander, Nathan Hess, and Julia Quinn. Please direct any comments and questions to [email protected]. 2 INTRODUCTION A total of 764 people were murdered in Chicago in 2016. They were sons, brothers, and fathers; sisters, daughters, and mothers; they were, as the title of The New York Times reporter Fox Butterfield’s book on urban violence noted,All God’s Children.
    [Show full text]
  • Project Safe Neighborhoods in Chicago: Looking Back a Decade Later Ben Grunwald
    Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology Volume 107 | Issue 1 Article 3 Winter 2017 Project Safe Neighborhoods in Chicago: Looking Back a Decade Later Ben Grunwald Andrew V. Papachristos Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/jclc Recommended Citation Ben Grunwald and Andrew V. Papachristos, Project Safe Neighborhoods in Chicago: Looking Back a Decade Later, 107 J. Crim. L. & Criminology (2017). https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/jclc/vol107/iss1/3 This Criminology is brought to you for free and open access by Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology by an authorized editor of Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. 3. GRUNWALD 4/6/2017 6:45 PM 0091-4169/17/10701-0131 THE JOURNAL OF CRIMINAL LAW & CRIMINOLOGY Vol. 107, No. 1 Copyright © 2017 by Ben Grunwald and Andrew V. Papachristos Printed in U.S.A. CRIMINOLOGY PROJECT SAFE NEIGHBORHOODS IN CHICAGO: LOOKING BACK A DECADE LATER BEN GRUNWALD* & ANDREW V. PAPACHRISTOS** Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is a federally funded initiative that brings together federal, state, and local law enforcement to reduce gun violence in urban centers. In Chicago, PSN implemented supply-side gun policing tactics, enhanced federal prosecution of gun crimes, and notification forums warning offenders of PSN’s heightened criminal sanctions. Prior evaluations provide evidence that PSN initiatives have reduced crime in the first few years of their operation. But over a decade after the program was established, we still know little about whether these effects are sustained over an extended period of time.
    [Show full text]
  • Barry Latzer on Robert Nixon and Police Torture in Chicago
    Elizabeth Dale. Robert Nixon and Police Torture in Chicago, 1871-1972. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 2016. 184 pp. $32.00, cloth, ISBN 978-0-87580-739-3. Reviewed by Barry Latzer Published on H-Law (September, 2016) Commissioned by Michael J. Pfeifer (John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York) The aim of Elizabeth Dale’s short and com‐ Probably not. Or that the Chicago Police Depart‐ pelling book is to show that the long list of abuses ment has a culture of “torturing” suspects, which of suspects by Chicago police detective Jon Burge, is why Burge cannot be explained merely by which took place between 1972 and 1991, were lapsed supervision (p. 2)? Perhaps. not anomalies. Burge, it will be recalled, ended up Another unresolved issue involves the word in prison and the City of Chicago apologized for “torture,” used matter-of-factly throughout the his abuses, paying out $100,000 in damages to his book. Unlike Dale, I don’t think torture is a self-ex‐ victims, expected to number between ffty and planatory term, though it certainly is an inflam‐ eighty-eight people. Dale intends to prove that it matory one. The United Nations Convention did not start with Burge, that he was just the most Against Torture, which Dale does not reference recent and notorious illustration of a systematic until p. 114 of her book, states that the term effort by Chicago police to “torture” suspects means “any act by which severe pain or suffering, stretching back to the nineteenth century. Her whether physical or mental, is intentionally in‐ goal, she says, is to recapture the history of these flicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining abuses.
    [Show full text]
  • Assessment of the Current Response to Domestic Violence in Chicago (2007)
    Domestic Violence Advocacy Coordinating Council Sgt. Kathy Argentino Denice Markham Chicago Police Department Life Span Larry Bennett Linda Miller University of Illinois Chicago Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago Laura Bertucci Linnea O’Neil State’s Attorney’s Office Metro Chicago Health Care Council Beatris Burgos Anne Parry Chicago Abused Women Coalition Chicago Department of Public Health Mary Ellen Caron Maria Pesqueira Department of Children and Youth Mujeres Latinas en Acción Superintendent Phillip Cline Wendy Pollack Chicago Police Department Shriver National Center on Poverty Law Joyce Coffee Jody Raphael Family Rescue DePaul University Family Law Center Vickii Coffey Kim Riordan Chicago Metro. Battered Women’s Network Field Foundation Mary Coleman Amy Rubin Illinois Department of Human Services Jewish Women Internat ional Judge Gloria CoCo Paul Schewe Domestic Violence Division University of Illinois Chicago Dawn Dalton Aparna Sen Jane Adams Hull House Apna Ghar Kathy Doherty First Deputy Superintendent Dana Starks Between Friends Chicago Police Department Elizabeth Drapa Brenda Thomas Chicago Supportive Housing Branch Family Institute Barbara Engel Carol Warshaw Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority Domestic Violence Mental Health Policy Initiative Joyce Gallagher Velma Williams Chicago Department of Aging Department of Children and Family Services Jill Geltmaker Jennifer Welch Heartland Alliance Office of the Attorney General Chris George Crystal Bass White Loyola University Center for Urban Research and Learning
    [Show full text]
  • What Is the Chicago Crime Commission?
    If you have issues viewing or accessing this file contact us at NCJRS.gov. r- l - f 121885 ~ U.S. Dep'lrtment of Justice \ National Institute of Justice ThiS document has been reproduced exactly as received from the \ person or organization onglnatlng It POints of view or opInions stated -~ in this document are those of the authors and do not necessanly represent the oHlclal position or policies of the National Institute of r -- Justice Permission to reproduce thiS copynghted matenal has been r granted by '~ Chicago Cri'11e ~ornmission to the National Cnmlnal Justice Reference Service (NCJRS) Further reproduction outside of the NCJRS system reqUIres permis­ .. '-." Sion of the copynght owner, .;;, ~. -.3 ;~ .. , "\J---"" -- -,- ;; I' ,,-I, '. -.- .-::.,-...,:.."~-.~ ...... ', _ .... "I' I~ J~~ -=-' .-'. <,. ':41'_rt: .:...,.,... "",'-'. -... -, J, .. ' -"..?-' fA - WAF If. " . ":;;r~ -" --------_ ..... _-_ ....... · i !' -------------70thAnniversaryChicago'Criiru3'Cbmmission------------- , " : ". President's Message am wrapping up my time as President of the Contents I Commission. I have not seen us ,a,chieve all the things I :wanted at the out­ President's Message ...................... 2 set a few years ago, but I am excited about our present Purpose .............................. 3 and our future. John Jemilo is settling in and I believe Becoming a Member ..................... 4 can be the best Executive Director the Commission Executive Director's Report ................. 5 has had. Wesley S. Walton As the balance of this report indicates, the Commis­ 70 Years Service ...................... 6-7 sion is proceeding with a number of important initiatives. In addition, our plans for the future (to be carried forward Committees .......................... 8-9 by our next president, Mike Shaw) are on point for the challenges our society faces.
    [Show full text]
  • Graffiti: a Visual Vernacular As Graphic Design Source Sung Hun Choi Iowa State University
    Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Retrospective Theses and Dissertations Dissertations 2007 Graffiti: a visual vernacular as graphic design source Sung Hun Choi Iowa State University Follow this and additional works at: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd Part of the Art and Design Commons, and the Fine Arts Commons Recommended Citation Choi, Sung Hun, "Graffiti: a visual vernacular as graphic design source" (2007). Retrospective Theses and Dissertations. 15068. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/rtd/15068 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Iowa State University Capstones, Theses and Dissertations at Iowa State University Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Retrospective Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Iowa State University Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Graffiti: A visual vernacular as graphic design source by Sung Hun Choi A thesis submitted to the graduate faculty in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF FINE ARTS Major: Graphic Design Program of Study Committee: Roger Baer, Major Professor Paul Bruski Fred Malven Iowa State University Ames, Iowa 2007 Copyright © Sung Hun Choi, 2007. All rights reserved. UMI Number: 1446067 UMI Microform 1446067 Copyright 2007 by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest Information and Learning Company 300 North Zeeb Road
    [Show full text]
  • Reducing Public Violence and Homicide in Chicago: Strategies and Tactics of the Chicago Police Department
    Reducing Public Violence and Homicide in Chicago: Strategies and Tactics of the Chicago Police Department Prepared by Dennis P. Rosenbaum and Cody Stephens Center for Research in Law and Justice University of Illinois at Chicago June 15, 2005 This project was supported by Grant #02DBBX0017, awarded to the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority by the Bureau of Justice assistance, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. The Assistant Attorney General Office of Justice Programs, coordinated the activities of the following program office and bureaus: Bureau of Justice Assistance, Bureau of Justice Statistics, National Institute of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and the Office of Victims of Crime. Points of view or opinions contained within this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, the U.S. Department of Justice or the Chicago Police Department. Correspondence should be addressed to: Dr. Dennis Rosenbaum, Professor and Director, Center for Research in Law and Justice, 1007 W. Harrison St. (M/C 141), University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607. (312) 355-2469. Acknowledgements This report would not have been possible without the full support of the Chicago Police Department (CPD). We wish to acknowledge and thank Superintendent Philip Cline, who opened the doors of the organization and gave us full access to people, meetings, and records. Deputy Superintendent Thomas Byrne played a key role in facilitating all aspects of this study from start to finish. Each of the Deputy Superintendents, including First Deputy Dana Starks, Hiram Grau, Jerry Robinson, and Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • The Chicago Alley Lighting Project: Final Evaluation Report
    The Chicago Alley Lighting Project: Final Evaluation Report April 2000 Prepared by Erica N. Morrow Shawn A. Hutton Research and Analysis Unit Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority George H. Ryan, Governor Peter B. Bensinger, Chairman Candice M. Kane, Executive Director Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank Andrea Gibson and Patrick Cusack of the City of Chicago, Department of Streets and Sanitation; and Patrick McPhilimy of the Chicago Police Department for their assistance in the preparation of this report and Daniel Higgins of the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority for assistance in designing the study methodology. Printed by the Authority of the State of Illinois, April 2000 Executive Summary In October of 1998, the Mayor’s Office in the City of Chicago and the Department of Streets and Sanitation began a multi-stage plan to reduce crime through improved street and alley lighting. The first part of the plan sought to upgrade and improve the city’s 175,000 streetlights, which illuminate the arterial and residential streets. The second part of the plan involves repairing and upgrading the lighting in and around viaducts and Chicago Transit Authority stations. The final part of the plan has been to boost lighting levels in alleys across the city as a tool for public safety and fighting crime. In the past, 90-watt lights illuminated most city alleys and the Department of Streets and Sanitation have increased alley lighting levels by installing new fixtures that can accommodate 250-watt bulbs. The intent of the City’s program was to increase feelings of safety and decrease crime in the alleys surrounding Chicago’s residential and arterial streets by increasing the wattage and number of alley lamps.
    [Show full text]