Visitors practice softball at Hamlin Park’s ball fields on Saturday. Credit: Geoff Dankert

Hank Rush just adopted a gray pit bull mix named Nellie, and the Barry Street resident gravitated to the dog run at Hamlin Park, 3035 N. Hoyne Ave., to exercise his new pet. Rush said Nellie struggles to run on the park’s gravel–he’d prefer wood chips, thank you –but since moving to the neighborhood from Uptown 18 months ago, he and Nellie have visited the park several times. “It’s nice,” he said. “It seems like it’s all young families in this area.”

That impression was supported by the population of the park on a recent Saturday. Every corner of Hamlin Park was filled with activity, from batting practice to flag football and tennis to parents pushing their children on the swings. On this day, even retired Chicago Cubs pitching great Kerry Wood and family paid a visit to the park’s massive Prairie-style fieldhouse.

Nowhere was there a sign of the generally minor but persistent crime activity that has hung on in parts of the park and the surrounding neighborhood for decades. The huge wall defining the outdoor pool area was free of graffiti from any of the gangs that have claimed or tried to claim the park. The small store diagonal to the park that once was a hangout for the neighborhood’s rougher elements is now under new management, brighter and more inviting. And blighted houses across from the park are being renovated and torn down to make way for newer housing.

Rush was unaware of the park’s history, and the challenges people living in the area have faced trying to keep undesirable elements away. In fact, he’s taken note of a strong Chicago Police Department presence in the area. “I see cops circling the neighborhood, so I don’t think that’s an issue at all,” he said.

It’s exactly the impression that Charlie Beach hoped visitors would one day have when he and some like-minded residents re-launched the Hamlin Park Neighbors group following a shooting near the park in the fall of 2011. Now, watching a quick game of softball near the fieldhouse, he agreed the feeling is different now. “I feel good about it,” Beach said. “I think people are more engaged. We can move en masse so that if one person notices a problem, we can create a voice.”

“Crime has gone down a lot around the park,” agreed Hamlin Park Advisory Council head Jody Boutell, whose group along with HPN comprises the one-two punch spearheading improvements in and around the park. “In the past year it’s become safer.”

The numbers back up that impression. A Center Square Journal analysis of invasive non-domestic crimes in a one-block radius around the park shows reports of 78 crimes for the 2012 calendar year. That’s at least a six-year low based on previous analyses of the same area going back to 2007. The reduction in crime near the park is also good news for Paul Sajovec, the chief of staff for Ald. Scott Waguespack (32nd), who describes what’s left of a criminal element near Hamlin Park as being more of a “wanna-be” gang than an actual gang. He also notes that one of the key magnets for criminal activity in the area — a house in the 3100 block of North Hoyne Avenue — had been the subject of repeated contacts by the Housing Department and the Cook County Assessor’s Office, and has become less of an issue in recent months.

HPN and the alderman’s office have also worked closely with previous Chicago Police 19th District Cmdr. John Kenny and current Cmdr. Elias Voulgaris to address neighbors’ concerns, and Beach says the department has been responsive. “They understand what’s going on,” he said. Cmdr. Voulgaris made a splash shortly after taking over the 19th District in September by holding what many residents said was the park’s first-ever outdoor roll call. The show of force from uniformed and undercover officers followed a chase and shooting incident that ended about a block from the park. Boutell said the turnout from neighbors for the roll call was a great unifying moment for people in the area. “Everyone’s feeling more interconnected because I think people are getting exposed to each other through different events,” she said. Cmdr. Voulgaris did not respond to CSJ’s requests for an interview.

While Beach and the HPN group talked to police and city leaders about securing the park and the neighborhood from outside elements, Boutell and HPAC turned their focus inside the park itself. Their specific mission was revitalizing the park’s playground, which was last redone in the 1990s when wood chips were the height of impact-cushioning technology. The council set its sights on raising as much as $600,000 for a new playground area, and Boutell said events like last summer’s staging of Circus In The Park, partnerships with local businesses and two successful Easter-egg hunts (the most recent one attracting 1,000 people) have already helped raise $65,000 in a year.

“We’re probably happy to be where we thought we’d be,” Boutell said. “We knew that there was a lot of support for this in the neighborhood, and support from elected officials has been great.” That support and visibility is in itself bringing new fundraising opportunities. For two weekends in August, the Chicago Park District will bring the city’s new “Shakespeare In The Park” program to Hamlin Park with stagings of “As You Like It.”

While the events continue, the Advisory Council has started meeting with a project manager from the Chicago Park District to begin planning the new playscape’s amenities. Early discussions have included chalkboards, a train and even a water feature. The Council also expects to sponsor other areas of the park, including making improvements to the dog run area. “To have some money to help…with that is fun too,” Boutell said.

And the Hamlin Park Neighbors group is now turning its attention outside the boundaries of the park. Beach said recent meetings have centered on concerns related to the controversial redevelopment of the Lathrop Homes public housing project at Clybourn and Diversey. Plans reportedly include new retail space south of Diversey and a mix of market-price and lower-income homes in the existing buildings to the north, but the most recent meetings to discuss those plans were abruptly canceled last month.

Beach also said elected leaders that represent the neighborhood are increasingly coming to them for input on zoning and other issues that affect the character of the area. “(Ald.) Waguespack knows that we want to know,” he said. “I get an email every time someone’s talking about doing something in the neighborhood that doesn’t fit.”

Both groups continue to keep their radar up for signs that some of the park’s former visitors will return to resume their activities, but Beach and Boutell both indicated that the neighborhood’s new energy and engagement will help to quickly address any incident. “The more you’re out at events, the more you see each other, and it’s a domino effect from that,” Boutell said. “It feels like the Hamlin Park area has the same feeling as Roscoe Village.”

“We are having a positive influence,” Beach agreed, “which makes the neighborhood better.”

Chicago Police car in Center Square. Credit: Mike Fourcher

Though the year is not quite over, Center Square Journal’s coverage area has seen more than 200 additional reported crimes in 2012 than it did in 2011, according to statistics from the city’s data portal.

In 2011, the five beats that compose CSJ’s coverage area–1713, 1911, 1922, 2021 and 2032–reported 3,134 incidents. In 2012, between Jan. 1 and Dec. 18–the most recently available data–there were 3,342 reports of crime.

Though not all crime was up, those that did rise over the year included: Theft, battery, burglary, motor vehicle theft, deceptive practice, assault and robbery.

Along with more crime, 2012 also saw fewer arrests, 605, compared to the previous year, 651.

Across the city, reported crime is down from 350,357 incidents in 2011 to 322,210 this year.

Graphic by Sam Charles

Fourteen of the reported incidents were theft–mostly pick-pocketing–while two incidents of battery, one assault, one instance of deceptive practice, once instance of reckless conduct and one robbery were also reported.

Three of the incidents led to arrests.

Eight of the incidents were on CTA buses passing through the area, six on CTA trains passing through the area, three at CTA garages and three on CTA platforms.

The most common scene of incidents was in and around the Southport Brown Line Station in the 3400 block of North Southport Avenue, where eight of the total incidents were reported.

For a full map of where the incidents took place, click here.

In that time, the most common incidents were: 55 thefts, 23 burglaries, 20 batteries, 17 incidents of criminal damage and nine motor vehicle thefts.

The area also saw three assaults, three incidents of criminal trespassing, three incidents of deceptive practice, three narcotics incidents, three robberies, two criminal sexual assaults, two “other offenses” and one incident of stalking.

Out of the 144 reported incidents, there were 18 arrests. Five for theft, four for battery, three for narcotics, two for criminal trespassing, and one for assault, robbery, stalking and an “other offense.”

The statistics, gathered from the City of Chicago’s data portal, match up with the Chicago Police Department’s assessment of area crime presented at the most recent area CAPS meeting.

“In the [19^th] District, it’s not a lot of violent crime. It’s property crime,” 19^th District Officer Kellee Simz said at the most recent CAPS Beat meeting on Oct. 17.

Beat 1921 is bordered on the west by The River, the east by Damen Avenue, the north by Irving Park Road and the south by Belmont Avenue. It accounted for 64 of the 144 total incidents.

Beat 1922 is bordered on the west by Damen Avenue, the east by Southport Avenue, the north by Irving Park Road and the south by Belmont Avenue. It accounted for 80 of the total area incidents.

Luis Zapata, 21, was charged with 6 felonies yesterday in connection with Tuesday's early morning shootout with police. Photo courtesy Chicago Police Department.

The Chicago Police charged two men Tuesday evening in connection with that day’s early morning shootout on the block of 2200 W. Barry Ave. near Hamlin Park. The alleged shooter, Luis Zapata, is a Hamlin Park resident with a number of prior felonies.

According to a police spokesman, Zapata, Michael Munoz, and two other men, riding in a sedan on Barry Ave. were stopped by a uniformed officers in marked squad car for a traffic stop. Zapata then allegedly fired two shots at the officer from inside his vehicle, bailed out of the vehicle and fled on foot.

“During the course of their run,” says Police Media Affairs spokesman Ofc. Enrico Mirabelli, “[the alleged offenders] made indication that they were armed with a handgun…and the officers feared for their safety.”

The police then apprehended and arrested Zapata, Munoz and one other unnamed man.

Zapata, 21, is from the 2900 block of North Seeley Ave. He was charged with two counts of aggravated assault of a police officer, two counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm, one count of unlawful use of a weapon by a felon and unlawful possession of a firearm by a street gang member, all felony charges.

Charges were charged late yesterday evening. Zapata is expected to appear in bond court today.

According to police, Zapata was previously convicted for aggrevated assault to a police officer in February 2012 and he has felony convictions for battery and for drug possession.

Michael Munoz, 27, of the 1300 block of West Winnemac Ave. in Uptown, was also in the car and charged with aggravated assault, a misdemeanor.

The third man arrested on Monday morning was not charged.

The Hamlin Park fieldhouse. Photo courtesy of Chicago Park District.

Chicago Police arrested three people early this morning on the block of 2200 W. Barry Ave. after a shootout in the early morning before dawn.

UPDATE (9:55 a.m.) : The three offenders were part of a four person party in a vehicle that exchanged gunfire with Chicago Police officers in a marked car at 1:18 a.m. this morning, according to a police spokesman. The fourth person was not apprehended.

Nobody was reported struck by the gunfire.

Police are conducting their investigation and plan to release further details later this morning, according to a police spokesman.

The Hamlin Park area has been plagued by violence in the last two years. Earlier this Spring 19th District police took steps to curb the crime, as a gang hangout at INA Pantry, 2100 W. Barry Ave., was closed and a house with suspected gang activity, at 3111 N. Hoyne Ave., was targeted by police.

UPDATE: (12:02 p.m.): Anthony Chan, a neighborhood resident who lives a short distance away from the incident reports that there was a full-on police sweep through out the early morning hours.

“I was sitting in my house…and then I heard many pops, pop-pop-pop-pop,” says Chan. “I went up to my second floor, I saw two unmarked squad cars with their lights on but no sirens and they were speeding southbound on Levitt, and two [marked] SUVs. Then there were many, many [police] cars in that section of the neighborhood.”

A police helicopter then appeared around 1:30 a.m. and began a search with bright lights, Chan and other neighborhood residents have told Roscoe View Journal.

“At some point they taped off Barry [Ave.]. They taped it off before Levitt Ave…In my alley, there were squad cars everywhere and officers on foot.” By around 3:30 a.m., says Chan, police officers were going door-to-door, asking residents about the shooting.

The police do not have any suspects or anyone in custody. Area 3 detectives are investigating.

Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy will attend a 33rd Ward community meeting on January 18. Credit: Sarah Tilotta

Early Monday morning Albany Park became the unfortunate host of Chicago’s first murder of the year, as a 19-year old Harold Washington College student was gunned down in an alley of the block of 3200 W. Lawrence Ave.

According to police reports, the 19-year old, later identified as Nicholas Camacho, was a passenger in a SUV driving thru an alley when shots were fired striking him in the head. Camacho was driven to Swedish Covenant Hospital for stabilization, then later transported in critical condition St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, where he died of his wounds.

ABC 7 News is reporting the shooting as gang-related, as police told ABC7 that the shooter flashed gang signs before the victim and friends jumped in the SUV to leave the scene.

In this environment, Ald. Dick Mell (33rd), whose ward falls in the 17th District, is conducting a community meeting Wednesday, January 18 with Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy and 17th District Commander Melissa Staples at Our Lady of Mercy Church Hall, 4432 N. Troy Ave.

In an email sent to 33rd Ward residents this morning, Ald. Mell pointed out that, “violent crime in the 17th District has been trending downward at an approximate rate of roughly 3% a year. The rate of violent crime has actually declined in the district during the past year by 4.8%.”

Questions for Superintendent McCarthy may be emailed in advance at questions@activist.com.

Aaron Smith (left) and Joe Parker remain behind bars, charged with multiple counts of home invasion. Photo from Chicago Police.

Two men charged with an armed home invasion spree in early December remain behind bars awaiting trial.

Aaron Smith, 22, of South Bend, Ind. is being held without bond for his alleged ringleader role in three home invasions on Chicago’s North and West Sides December 10.

He faces 12 criminal counts in total, including two felonies for pistol whipping the pair’s three victims on the 1100 block of West 13th Street in University Village.  A victim on the 1800 block of West Cuyler was burned by the muzzle flash of a .357 magnum pistol Smith is alleged to have fired into the home’s floor during the 5:30 a.m. robbery. A third home invasion in the brash daylight spree was on the 900 block of West Sheridan Road, police say.

Joe Parker, 20, and reportedly Smith’s accomplice, has not posted the $300,000 bond set for his three criminal charges, which include one count of home invasion and two counts of home invasion that caused injury. Police list Parker’s home address as the 5500 block of S. Aberdeen.

Smith’s lengthy list of charges also includes resisting arrest, weapons charges and cannabis possession.

Both men will make preliminary appearances in court on Thursday.

Police apprehended the pair the day after the robberies by using the iPhone “find my phone” feature of one of the victims cell phones. The pair are also accused of stealing computers, jewelry and cash.

Aaron Smith (left) and Joe Parker were apprehended by police and charged with multiple counts of home invasion yesterday. Photo from Chicago Police.

Chicago police confirmed this morning that two men apprehended and charged yesterday afternoon were responsible for three separate home invasions on the North and West Sides on Saturday. According to a report from the Chicago Tribune, the police nabbed the suspects by using an iPhone GPS app that tracked an iPhone stolen from a University Village apartment in one of the home invasions.

Read more in CSJ.