Chicago police-private security team up for Labor day patrols
Chicago IL Sept 1 2019
More than 1000 extra Chicago police officers have been added to patrol the city during the Labor Day weekend.
Some of those police officers have teamed up with private security to focus on transit hubs, the lakefront and beaches, and parks in various neighborhoods.
Officers on foot, in vehicles and in the air were apparent on Michigan Avenue downtown.
In one incident, CPD officers and security officers on patrol observed three men armed with handguns on video Friday in the basketball court in the 2900 block of S. Dearborn St.
The security officers attempted to stop the suspects, but they fled the scene.
CPD officers later located the men with three loaded handguns on State Street.
The men were arrested on illegal gun charges, said CPD Chief Communications Officer Anthony Gugliemli.
CPD’s Organized Crime Bureau Money Laundering team and the Chicago Departments of Buildings & Consumer Affairs and Consumer Protection executed a raid in the 6600 S. California Friday, Gugliemli said. Approximately, 300 counterfeit merchandise items were recovered along with two handguns, one replica handgun, numerous rounds of ammunition and $5,000 were recovered, Gugliemli said.
Police are keeping an especially close eye on what they call pop-up parties; spontaneous neighborhood gatherings that are announced online.
In 2018, six people were killed and an additional 28 were injured over the Friday to Sunday period of Labor Day weekend.
So far this Labor Day weekend: 40 illegal guns seized, 12 arrested on illegal gun charges.
