Chicago ride-along

The unmarked Chevy Tahoe tilts when police officer Kelly Bongiovanni cuts the corner. Blue lights flash and the siren blares. Adrenaline is pumping.

The speedometer hits 60 mph as Bongiovanni and her partner, Jamie Jawor, rush toward 73rd Street and Racine Avenue for a call of shots fired on a recent Thursday night.

The call, which ended with a suspect in custody, is one the two plainclothes Chicago police officers hear daily in Englewood, one of many Chicago neighborhoods plagued with violence.

Once home to Bulls MVP Derrick Rose, rapper Chief Keef and Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson, the district saw 40 killings last year-accounting for 7 percent of the more than 500 recorded in the city. Two years ago, no district tallied more homicides.

CPD recently offered RedEye a chance to take an inside look at how police do their jobs. The department chose to have RedEye shadow Bongiovanni and Jawor for a 90-minute ride-along in the neighborhood where they work. The 20-block-by-20-block district, which covers Englewood and West Englewood, recently has seen a decline in violent crime and property crime.

Police say homicides have fallen 43 percent in the year since the department started sending extra police resources to violent areas in the Englewood district. So far this year, the body count here stands at seven.

This neighborhood is full of vacant lots next to boarded-up and abandoned homes. The area's only 300-unit high-rise, New Englewood Terrace Apartments, towers above bungalows and two-flats. In a span of 10 years, the populations of Englewood and West Englewood have declined by nearly 20,000 people. Many who have stayed attend community meetings in hopes the neighborhood will improve.

The radio is eerily quiet at 7:11 p.m.-the start of the ride-along. The streets are mostly empty.

The officers head to corners where the Black Disciples' Lamron gang clashes with the Gangster Disciples' Brick Squad. The two are among six main gangs and 70 factions fighting with one another in the police district.

Bongiovanni, 29, and Jawor, 34, are tactical officers, which means they are ready to jump out of the SUV for any in-progress call-as opposed to the wide range of calls beat officers answer. Tactical officers are more likely to arrive on the scenes of shootings, drug sales and robberies.

"Winter is hit or miss," Jawor says. "Sometimes it might be really busy, but a lot of times like this, it's just kind of dull. Some stuff going on, but everybody is probably inside chilling." Calls in the summer, Bongiovanni said, are pretty steady.

Inside the vehicle, between the driver and passenger seats, a computer screen glows with details of pending service calls. The pair frequently runs license plates and names to determine whether cars are stolen or if the people they approach on the street have warrants out for their arrest.

The officers keep their cool as they speed to a call; they're protective of each other and officers in the district. This camaraderie is one reason they choose to stay in Englewood, the district they were randomly assigned after graduating from police academy.

"We're not the negative disgruntled police who are going into work going like, 'Man, this sucks,' or 'I hate my job. I hate everything. Oh, I have to go to this spot again,'" Jawor says.

When the women spot a squad car involved in a traffic stop, they pull up and wait for a thumbs-up cue from the officer, signaling that he is safe.

They do the same thing to officers who have stopped a group of boys at the Mobile gas station at Marquette Road and Halsted Street. The area is troublesome and gas station employees at times have called the police up to 15 times a day, manager Heath Rahman said.

"Everywhere there is drugs. There's gang bangers shooting each other, killing each other. We are scared," he said.

Even though police presence has been beefed up in Englewood, Rahman said he would like to see more officers.

When called, the police respond, he said. On quieter nights, officers pop in to see if there are any problems.

Behind the gas station, Bongiovanni passes a known drug house. Jawor scans the area for anyone coming through the gangways.

Of all the incidents and calls they've handled, Bongiovanni and Jawor said it's the police shootings that stay with them. Eight officers have been shot and killed since the two joined the force about six years ago.

They knew Alejandro Valadez, who was killed in 2009 while investigating reports of gunfire in the district; Thomas Wortham, who was assigned to the district but killed in 2010 in Chatham; and Thor Soderberg, who was killed in Englewood the same year.

"Those are always the ones, even if you weren't there, that stick out in your mind," Jawor says.

Neither officer has been shot at directly-they've been a house or two away when gunfire rang out-but they say the possibility increases the longer they stay in the district. Last month, the duo encountered a man with a gun in his pocket.

The pair has never fired at a person, but they have drawn their weapons. They recall the day before Jawor went on vacation, when the officers answered a call of a man with a weapon. Bongiovanni followed Jawor into a backyard to look for the suspect when she saw Jawor jump backward over a knee-high wooden board.

Jawor's gun was pointed at huge dogs that came up to her waist. She's had a pit bull come after her before.

"They didn't attack me, though. Luckily the owner came out," Jawor says. "It was scary."