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December 30, 2009 – Hopefully, you were not a victim of retail theft on Friday, December 4, between noon and 1 p.m. at a department store in the 100 block of North State Street. Unfortunately, according to crime data from the Chicago Police Department, chances are good that you were.

Macy’s is located at 111 North State Street. The department store may have accounted for 99 incidents between October 3 and December 20, mostly retail theft in the afternoon and evening hours.

A detailed analysis of crime data by Marina City Online shows 1,448 incidents were reported to police between October 1 and December 20 in Ward 42 within one-half mile of 300 North State Street.

That breaks down to 552 incidents in October, 515 in November, and 381 so far in December.

Arrests were made in only one-third of the incidents.

December 4 was the busiest day, in which 35 incidents were reported, followed by 28 incidents on November 28. The least number of incidents, five, were reported on Thanksgiving, November 26.

The worst times for crime are between noon and 1 p.m., and between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. The safest hour is 5 a.m. to 6 a.m.

State Street a great street for incidents

By far, the most incidents occurred in the first two blocks of North State Street. The 100 block got 147 incidents, followed by the 0 block with 109. The 100 block of West Lake Street was a distant third with 53.

The 300 block of North State Street, where Marina City is located, was further down the list with 17 incidents reported in the last three months of the year.

Where does crime happen? Department stores mostly, with 247 incidents, followed by streets (174), and restaurants (146).

The safest places, according to CPD crime data, are at public and private schools, college residence halls, in delivery trucks and commercial vehicles, on the lakefront or riverbank, on a bridge, in a residential yard or garage, gas station, and train depot.

The crimes were mostly theft (619 incidents), followed by simple battery (96), and pocket-picketing (83).

Macy’s does have a better arrest record than the rest of the neighborhood. Of the 99 incidents in the 100 block of North State Street, an arrest was made in all but 23 incidents.

A spokesperson for Macy’s could not be reached over the holidays. The relatively large number of incidents could just be a reflection of better security.

More than 1400 crimes in the MCO database

Marina City Online is introducing a new Crime Incident Database, tracking police reports within a half-mile radius of Marina City. Raw data for this database is obtained from the Chicago Police Department.

(Above) Area covered by the MCO Crime Incident Database.

Records go back to October 1, 2009. You can display all records from a specific month, or select a specific block or a specific crime description.

For each incident, the database lists case number, date, time, block address, a general description of the location such as “hotel,” a description of the crime, and whether an arrest was made. Click on the “Map” button to display the location of the incident on a map at the top of the page.

 Neighborhood crime database

 See our analysis of this data in more detail