The Lakeview Action Coalition ( LAC ) is applauding plans by Chicago Police Superintendent Terry Hillard to expand the night bike patrols in East Lakeview.
The patrol currently operates from 8:30 p.m. to midnight along a corridor of East Lakeview in which hate crimes are reportedly most prevalent. One year into the two-year pilot bike patrol program, Hillard has agreed to extend the patrols until 1:30 a.m. and to make the program permanent.
"The officers on the bikes have made some really good contacts with people in the streets," said Rick Ingram, president of the Lakeview Action Coalition. "They made connections they couldn't have otherwise. It's a community effort, not just a police effort."
The expansion also calls for participation by two officers from the 19th District to patrol.
Hillard has agreed to work with LAC on "diversity training that would be more meaningful for officers than what they're doing presently," Ingram said. Discussions have just started on the training, which is in the preliminary stages.
Details of the expansion were released at a press conference on June 28 that included Ald. Bernie Hansen ( 44th Ward ) , State Reps. Sara Feigenholtz and Larry McKeon and State Sen. John Cullerton.
A 2000 study by LAC found that East Lakeview had the city's largest pattern of hate crimes from 1990-'99. Gays and lesbians, Jews and African-Americans were among the groups targeted. The number of reported hate crimes fell in 2000, from 22 the year before to 11. LAC leaders have attributed the drop to the bike patrols, though Ingram did acknowledged that 75% of all hate crimes are not reported.
According to LAC, 61% of all hate crimes in East Lakeview and North Center occurred on just 10 streets bordered by Halsted, Broadway, Grace, Belmont and Clark.