Crime Lab As shootings and homicides drop in Englewood, a new optimism grows

Chicago Tribune / December 8, 2017
By Annie Sweeney

You can see the change in Englewood in the raw numbers. You can hear about it from the Chicago police commander here, a neighborhood gas station owner or a community leader.

But if you want to feel the difference, stand in the neatly trimmed grass at 66th and Union with longtime resident Asiaha Butler, who will show you how Englewood is already a safer place for her to live.

“It’s absolutely quieter,” said Butler, who this summer converted a vacant lot on her block to a community space. “I never walked around in a fearful state, thinking I was going to be shot, but it’s a really great energy now. A great mix of active people. That is what I feel when I am in the community.”

Violence in the Englewood police district has dropped dramatically in 2017, with shootings falling 44 percent and homicides down 45 percent over 2016.

Read Full Article


8 December 2017