Cook County Sheriff's Office taking action to keep South Loop safe: Exclusive police ride-along
CHICAGO (WLS) -- A high-traffic area of the South Loop is drawing extra attention from local law enforcement.
The Cook County Sheriff's Office is applying significant resources into the Roosevelt Road corridor in an effort to curb drug activity and make residents feel safe.
Since focusing attention to that area of the South Loop, sheriff's police have made dozens of arrests.
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The Roosevelt Road area of the South Loop is very crowded. There's retail, public transit and a lot of apartments and condos. All of it helps to serve as a cover for drug deals, police say.
Residents and elected leaders are fed up, and with the help of the Cook County Sheriff's Office, they're working to make a change.
"Well I don't really see it, but it is happening," South Loop resident Darlene Callazo said.
Callazo lives two blocks from Roosevelt Road and State Street. She and other residents say they're very careful about when they walk the sidewalks in their own neighborhood.
"In the morning, it's, it's fine, you know, it's normal," South Loop resident Dalia Olsauskas said. "But then there come certain times during the day when you just kind of want to stay away from, like, this whole area, because there's just, like, so much, you know, activity."
The South Loop represents a portion of Alderman Bill Conway's 34th Ward. Conway says there's been significant criminal activity in the area around Roosevelt and Wabash for a long time.
"You have a lot of drug dealing and crimes being staged in the Jewel parking lot," Conway said. "You have an unacceptable increase in violence on the CTA. We've had a few shootings nearby as well."
Conway describes thw area as a gateway into the loop and says the prevalence of crime here is not the kind of entrance anyone wants for downtown Chicago.
"You have a lot of commercial activity. You have a lot of residential activity, and you have criminal activity that comes with that, and that's why this has been a hot spot for decades, and it's why it needed additional law enforcement presence, which I'm grateful that the sheriff's department has responded with," Conway said.
The stepped-up presence from the Cook County Sheriff's Office in the South Loop started in June. Over the last six months, the Cook County Sheriff's Office says it's made more than 1,700 traffic stops and 136 arrests, including 17 arrests resulting in felony gun charges and 18 resulting in felony drug charges.
Sheriff Tom Dart sat down with ABC7 to break down the problem and his office's efforts to make people feel safe.
"We're feeling pretty good about where we're at so far," Dart said. "We know we have more to do, but I'll tell you one thing. We haven't been bored, at all."
ABC7 rode along with Cook County Sheriff's Officers and how quickly an evening patrol in the South Loop turned from a high-speed pursuit down Lake Shore Drive to a traffic stop discovery of a loaded gun and 60 grams of cannabis. ABC7 saw first-hand that policing this kind of activity can be extremely dangerous.
Within minutes of meeting up with Commander Mike Ware, ABC7's crew was flying down Lake Shore Drive as sheriff's police pursue a suspect who took off during an attempted traffic stop.
Just 20 minutes earlier, Commander Ware addressed a group of nearly two dozen officers.
"You guys are out here making the citizens feel safe," Ware said.
During ABC7's ride-along, someone tried to ram a K-9 squad car during an attempted stop nearby.
The squad car then approached speeds of 100 miles per hours, with the suspect leading officers toward Hyde Park.
The car ABC7 was in then approached speeds of 100 miles per hours, with the suspect leading officers toward Hyde Park. It was about three minutes behind when they learn the suspect has ditched his sedan steps away from Lake Shore Drive.
When the car ABC7 was in arrived it appeared the suspect curbed his car on an exit ramp. Officers moved quickly to get K9 Bolt on the scent.
As sheriff's police hustled on foot and by squad car, a Chicago police helicopter was up in the air. By the sounds of it, the suspect was moving quickly, targeting Kenwood Academy high school for an escape.
ABC7 later found out school security did its job and turned the suspect away at the door, but by the time officers can get in touch with school administrators, he was gone. The good news is no one was hurt.
"I'm gonna protect the public 100% of the time," Commander Ware said. "Lord forbid somebody gets in an accident and kills somebody. Gotta think about if that was my family member in that car."
As the squad ABC7 was in doubled back to Lake Shore Drive, Commander Ware learned his team caught a break. He says some paperwork in the jacket the suspect tossed in the dumpster matched documents in the car, allowing them to put a warrant out for the suspect's arrest.
"It's the game," Ware said. "Don't take it personal. It's their job to get away."
Then they were back to the South Loop, and not before long, there was another traffic stop on SUV with no registration, but this time the driver did not run.
The driver allegedly had more than 60 grams of cannabis, but police also said they found a gun, enough to charge the driver with felony aggravated unlawful possession of a weapon.
The investigation led them to take a gun off the streets and some narcotics.
While the gun represents the most serious charge on the stop, Sheriff Dart says the source of the problem is often marijuana. ABC7 asked Dart why his office is focusing on street transactions of a drug that can be purchased legally.
"The stuff that's sold on the street is still wildly less expensive than the other stuff," Dart said. "And so those markets are still not only in existence, they're thriving."
As a result, he says his officers' interactions on the streets and in traffic stops are as dangerous as they've ever been.
"Because it's so lucrative, it is also one where people are going to defend it with everything they have, because they can make so much money off of it," Dart said. "So there's so much gun violence around those corners."
One of the hottest corners in the South Loop is Roosevelt and Wabash. Over the course of several weeks, investigators identified dealers selling in the area through multiple undercover buys. In late November, they arrested six Chicago residents for selling cannabis resulting in felony manufacture/delivery charges.
"We need to get into people's heads that, you know, this is safe," Dart said. "This is a place you can feel comfortable raising your family, living here."
