Crime in Chicago has become one of political discourse over the last few decades. The Windy City is known for its beautiful architecture, tasty food, and is home to the popular festival Lolapalooza. Though these are the highlights of the downtown area, the inner city is often ignored because of its chaotic and dangerous criminal underbelly.
According to Neighborhood scout, Chicago has 26,620 violent crimes annually with ten out of every thousand residents committing an offense. A resident has a 1 in 103 chance of becoming a victim of a violent crime as opposed to a 1 in 239 possibility of becoming a victim in all of Illinois.
The neighborhood scouts crime index records indicate that Chicago is only safer than ten percent of cities across the U.S. The chances of becoming a victim of property crime are greater in Chicago with a 1 in 39 chance of falling victim compared to 1 in 65 in the state.
Recently, the home of the Cubs has seen an alarming rise in crime, particularly in its transit stations. This past Memorial Day Police officers canceled their days off to help combat violent crime at the CTA train stations.
This was a day after a man was fatally stabbed on the blue line. The unidentified 40-year-old man was stabbed in the chest and pronounced dead at a hospital from his injuries.
Police officers have begun patrolling the train stations to circumvent these potential attacks and incidents from becoming a constant. Throughout spring numerous incidents occurred at transit stations causing delays In train arrivals and ghost trains throughout the city. It seems that these places have become target areas for criminals to prey upon pedestrians en route to their homes, jobs, etc. The month of May saw an astounding increase in CTA crimes.
A young Black male became a suspect in a crime after he forcibly stole a victim’s purse at a blue line train station. After a struggle with the victim, the suspect managed to get a hold of the purse and flee the scene.
An armed robbery left a man critically injured and held at gunpoint. A separate incident left a man unconscious and sent to the hospital and another man was held at knifepoint.
A couple of days ago an unidentified man was electrocuted at a red line train station after an altercation with another male who continued to strike the victim after being shocked.
All of this has happened in the past two months at train depots. The same ones that people like the late Muhammad Ali used in his time.
The crime seems to only get worse as the city gets warmer. The city is in a state of panic among its residents. Community members are scared to board trains designed to get them home because of reckless actions by criminals. Officers are upping the ante to help citizens feel safe and restore peace to the city.
Written by Mikal Eggleston
Edited by Sheena Robertson
Sources
NBC Chicago: Man Fatally Stabbed on CTA Blue Line as Chicago Police Cancel Days Off Leading up to Memorial Day; by Associated Press
FOX 32 Chicago: CTA robbery: Suspect wanted for grabbing purse from victim on Blue Line platform in the Loop; by FOX 32 Digital Staff
Chicago Sun-Times: Crime on public transit is a social crisis; by Letters to the editor
Neighborhood Scout: Chicago Illinois Crime Rate
Featured Image Courtesy of Dianne Yee’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of Daniel Lobos’s Flickr Page- Creative Commons License
