[in person] 9th Police District Council - Deering (New City, Gage Park, Near South Side, South Lawndale, Bridgeport, Mckinley Park, Fuller Park, West Englewood, Englewood, Brighton Park, Douglas, Armour Square, and Lower West Side)

People are trickling into the cafeteria at Calmeca Academy. Ald. Ray Lopez of the 15th Ward is in attendance along with 009th District Police Commander Joseph Mark

The meeting is called to order at 6:34pm with roll call confirming all members are present and quorum is reached

The committee moves to approve last meeting’s minutes and quickly approves them

Cmdr. Mark is introduced along with a brief background on the 9th District’s Strategic Plan, which he will be presenting on today. The plan is available online

About 15 community members are present along with half a dozen or so uniformed officers

Cmdr. Mark introduces the Strategic Plan as a collaboration between officers and community members identifying community problems. There are three main focuses in the District; shootings, armed robberies, and burglaries

Cmdr. Mark emphasizes the prevalence of violent crime in the District. On shootings, the District has a gang problem. However, Cmdr. Mark shares that district-wide, murders are down YTD along with robberies and burglaries.

Patrol has increased in Back of the Yards due to the concentration of gang violence there. Cmdr. Mark believes this has been a driver in the drop in shootings. He asks for help from the community in identifying gang members who often use fear to dissuade information from being shared.

The District employs a variety of technologies to aid in investigations. Cmdr. Mark specifically highlights how license plate readers track vehicles very effectively.

Moving on to the second priority area of robberies, Cmdr. Mark notes that robberies spiked across the city in 2024. The 9th District specifically has seen a decrease in robberies. Cmdr. Mark believes that the increased prevalence of officers has helped drive that number down.

On to burglaries - there has been a spike in commercial burglaries across the city. Cmdr. Mark recommends that businesses that do not require an ATM avoid them if possible.

Through a question from the crowd, Cmdr. Mark shares that we will likely see more felonies from retail theft. The new Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke shared with officers that the threshold to bring felony charges will drop from $1000 to $300.

Another question from the crowd brings up the topic of street racing (car caravans as they are called by CPD). CPD is working with Aldermen to install speed bumps and other traffic barriers to prevent this in certain places.

Next on the agenda Erin Vogel updates the crowd on community engagement. She shares different community safety events and meetings that she has attended.

On to public comment. A woman shares an announcement for a memorial for Fallen Chicago Police Officer Andrés Vásquez Lasso.

The meeting is adjourned at 7:22pm