Depending on whom you ask, crime in Lakeview is on the decline, a longtime problem, or poised to climb dramatically.
Earlier this summer the local police commander, Elias Voulgaris, announced that one of Lakeview's beats, dense with bars and bordered by foot-traffic heavy Belmont Avenue and Halsted Street, is leading the city in robberies. And earlier this week police issued a community alert warning of a series of armed robberies in Lakeview between July and August.
A RedEye analysis of the city's crime data shows that reported summertime muggings have been slowly climbing over recent years, from about 300 thefts and robberies reported in 2008 to more than 450 this year.
Not all incidents are included in the data, however, because some were accompanied by more severe offenses. But this summer's numbers provide a sketch of the area's crime hotspots at a time when many community members are clamoring for more information from the police department and other community leaders on anti-crime efforts.
The places to watch out for on the three police beats that stretch from Belmont Avenue to Irving Park Road, and from Southport Avenue to Lake Shore Drive, according to RedEye's data map:
*The Red Line CTA Stations, especially in the early morning hours.
*Around Wrigley Field
*Up and down Clark Street and Halsted Street, where theft on the sidewalk, inside bars and on CTA buses is relatively common
*The stretch of Belmont Avenue between the train and Halsted Street, which has seen a handful of sidewalk muggings so far this year.
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