Alderman Bennett Lawson - 44th Ward Chicago

Alderman Bennett Lawson
44th Ward
Seal of Chicago

Please see fire safety tips at the bottom of this page.

Chicago Police Department

Community Meetings With CPD (‘Beat Meetings’):

Beat meetings are facilitated by the CAPS (Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy) office and will have beat officers assigned to your neighborhood to answer your questions, comments, and concerns. They will also go over a review of incidents that have occurred within the past two months, and an overview of crime statistics. Attendees can provide officers with more detail about what they’re observing to help officers address a chronic issue, or they can speak to an officer after the meeting to provide more detail. Find your beat here and view the beat meeting schedule below or in our ward calendar.

See here for a map of our local 19th Police District.

See the images below to find your beat and see meeting dates and locations. Search by address here. See our local 19th District’s website here. Email CAPS.019District@chicagopolice.org or our office with any questions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What You Can Do to Help Keep Our Ward Safe – Before, During, and After a Crime

 

WHEN a crime occurs:

  • 1) Call 911 and file a police report in-person at the station on 850 W Addison St, or online when you witness a crime or feel unsafe. Keep the ‘R.D. number’ associated with your police report, which can be found on the top right corner of the physical copy. We recommend filing reports in-person if possible, in order for a CPD officer to ask follow-up questions and learn more about your case.

      • Nonviolent mental health incidents reported to 911 between the hours of 10:30am-4pm will be automatically re-routed to Chicago’s CARE (Crisis Assistance Response and Engagement) team. Learn more here.
      • View below a comprehensive list of mental health hotlines that serve our area.
      • Please see more info below on best practices for calling 911.

AFTER a crime occurs:

  • 2) To inform our office or local police officers about incidents or crime trends, or to request an update on a case, you can:
  • 3) Follow a case through the courts system by requesting information on upcoming court dates from our office, or the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County (main phone number: (312) 603-5030). You can find non-criminal court case information on the Clerk’s website here, and criminal case information by reaching out to our office or the Clerk’s office.
  • 4) Participate in our office’s ‘court advocacy’ program – attending criminal court dates to demonstrate to a judge the deep impact that a given case has had on our community. You can this by calling or emailing our office (please include the name of the offender or case details) to request court date information, and then attending in-person or via Zoom here.
  • 5) Check here on the Cook County Sheriff’s website whether an offender is in custody in jail. Please note that you will need a full name or booking number. Our office can help you find this information if you do not have it. After a trial has concluded, you can find information about inmates serving sentences in prison here, on the Illinois Department of Corrections website.

BEFORE a crime occurs:

  • 6) Attend your local police beat meetings to discuss safety tips and crime trends with CPD officers (held typically every two months – see schedule below). Find your beat here or on this map, and see the schedule below or in our ward calendar. You can also attend meetings of the 19th Police District Council – an elected civilian body that engages with CPD and brings together stakeholders for community conversations on public safety.
  • 7) Register your household’s or business’s cameras with CPD so detectives know the location, direction, and contact info for your camera to request your footage if a crime occurs in your area. You can also directly link cameras facing the public way to the City’s network.
  • 8) For businesses – apply for security camera rebate programs through local chambers of commerce. Within our ward, the Lakeview Roscoe Village Chamber of Commerce provides a rebate program for businesses along the Southport corridor from Belmont to Byron.
  • 9) Follow CPD’s recommended safety tips.
  • 10) Create a Smart911 profile to receive community alerts, and so 911 operators can see critical info about your household such as health information, members of the household, pets/service animals, vehicle, and other notes you wish to provide.
  • 11) Report alley/street lights out by going to 311 and selecting Service Request > Transportation and Streets > Street Lights.
  • 12) Sign up for our office’s newsletter to stay aware of public safety news in our ward.
  • 13) Sign up to follow the local CPD 19th District on Twitter and Instagram.

What role do Aldermanic offices play in Public Safety?

Aldermanic offices can help you with a lot! We’re the communication bridge between you and the Chicago Police Department, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, your local Chambers of Commerce and local businesses, COPA, and more. We help keep neighbors informed on recent crime incidents and statistics, connect residents to public safety events and organizations, pass legislation and vote on CPD’s annual budget, utilize our $1.5 million Menu Budget to create infrastructure with public safety in mind, and more. 

 

You and Your Neighbors 

Calling 911

In order to support the efforts of our office and the 19th District Police, we need you–the eyes and ears of our community–to call 911 and report suspicious activity to the 19th District CAPS office. Not sure when to call 911 vs 311? See this graphic.

Why are calls to 911 (or calls for service) important?

Each Police District throughout the city must provide data-based evidence as to why they should increase police presence or ask for tactical or special unit enforcement within a particular area. Calls for service are the most important indicator that there is a growing public safety issue that needs special attention. So, even if you do not witness police coming immediately to respond to your call, ultimately these calls for service lead to a greater, sustained police presence. 

How to call 911 

  • Be as descriptive as possible. 
  • Address: give the exact address if you know it. 
  • Description of the people involved; race, sex, age, approximate height, weight, description, and color of clothing; the more information, the better.
  • Any weapon that can be seen.
  • If you do not want your name given to responding police units, be sure to inform the call taker. There is a box that the call taker will activate to ensure you remain anonymous. 
  • Calls for service are dispatched based on priority. Any situation that represents an immediate threat to life, bodily injury, or major property damage is priority 1; everything below that is either categorized as priority 2 or 3 and will be dispatched according to availability. 

Mental Health Resources & Hotlines

 

Please see below for other relevant public safety links and flyers:

Links:

Flyers:

Chicago Fire Department

Fire Safety Tips

Fire Safety Information

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