Throughout Chicago, restaurants are being burglarized at a record clip after break-ins rose to a historic level last year, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. As with most burglaries, the suspects have rarely been caught and court records show no one has been charged. “I’m just beyond outraged at the aldermen and the city’s government, which is doing nothing but make it more difficult for me to operate my business,” said business owner and burglary victim Paul Fehribach. Alderman Brian Hopkins, chair of the City Council Public Safety Committee, sympathizes with business owners and wants to give the Chicago Police Department more tools to fight the burglary surge. Hopkins said his ward has seen two types of burglaries: those targeting cafes and eateries for cash and others raiding restaurants’ liquor supplies to feed “a thriving black market” for booze.
The number of burglaries reported at Chicago restaurants jumped to 635 last year, the highest total recorded since at least 2001, the earliest year of available data. The city has tallied 315 restaurant burglaries through June 16, more than at the same point last year. Overall, burglaries have fallen significantly from the levels recorded in the aughts and early 2010s,. Since the start of 2023, the number of citywide burglaries has fluctuated slightly, with the numbers dropping roughly 2% last year and rising again by 2% so far this year. Over the same period, break-ins at restaurants have made up a much larger share of the city’s total burglaries. Sam Toia of the Illinois Restaurant Association said the trade group “would love to see more presence of officers and security guards throughout our 77 communities, as it serves as a strong deterrent.” Police, however, have struggled to solve the burglaries. An arrest was made in just 34 of the burglaries targeting restaurants in 2023 or 5.3% of the cases. That number has fallen to 3.5% this year, accounting for arrests in just 11 cases.
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