Parallel with a city-wide trend, last year saw crime in the most serious property and violent categories fall in the neighborhoods in and adjacent to the Loop, according to new statistics released by the Chicago Police Department.

The 1st District, which covers much of the central business district, South Loop and parts of Bronzeville, saw violent crime drop 3.7 percent in 2009 versus the year prior, a fall led by 19.4- and 23.6-percent declines in aggravated assaults and aggravated batteries, respectively.

In 2008, three people were murdered in the 1st District. That number clocked in at two last year.

Property crimes were down by 11.2 percent year over year. Robberies rose, however, 8.3 percent.

But, overall, serious crimes fell in the 1st District by 10.7 percent.

“We’ve gotten better as a department at managing information,” said the commander of the 1st District, Christopher Kennedy. “We have and are taking a look at the places where we need to place attention.”

In the early part of 2010, that’s included the blocks in and around the 18th and Prairie, where a series of robberies have caught the neighborhood’s attention.

Around 50 people attended a Jan. 12 community alternative policing strategy, or CAPS, meeting for the area, said Prairie District Neighborhood Alliance president Tina Feldstein, following a string of robberies in the area late last year and early in 2010.

The issue is expected to be discussed at the organization’s Jan. 27 yearly kick-off meeting, when a community watch will be formed.

“There is a consistent concern about safety,” Feldstein said, in the neighborhood.

Kennedy said one arrest related to the incidents has been made.

Last year saw the closure and demolition of all but three buildings in the Harold Ickes Homes, a Near South Side public housing development that had more than 820 of units occupied in 1999. That number is less than 100 today.

Gang members were known to traffic narcotics in the development, and the Chicago Housing Authority cited security reasons in part to justify the demolition.

Kennedy acknowledged that tactical team arrests in the Ickes area, for drug offenses and criminal trespass, were down.

Officers who formerly worked in this beat were being reassigned for other duties, he said.

Serious violent and property crimes in the 12th District fell nearly 14 percent last year versus the same time period in 2008.

The 12th District includes the West Loop, University of Illinois-Chicago area, medical district, Pilsen and the broader Near West Side.

Robberies were down 6.5 percent year over year, while aggravated assaults fell 16.3 percent (aggravated batteries dropped half of one percent).

Thirteen people were murdered last year in the 12th District, one more than in 2008.

“It’s not like there’s an ongoing chronic problem with homicides,” said district commander, Dennis Keane. “Some are spontaneous … some are gang-related and there’s a few domestics that are in there.”

Property crimes fell in the 12th by nearly 15 percent. In 2008, for example, 446 motor vehicles were stolen in the district; 389 were ripped off last year.

But Victor Fuller, a Near West Side residents and the CAPS facilitator for Beat 1211, thought crime in that particular area remained flat. He said convincing residents to call police remained a challenge.

Focus areas in the 12th remain parts of 18th Street in Pilsen, the ABLA Homes, the area around St. Stephen’s Terrace Apartments (see related story in this week’s Journal) and Roosevelt Road, where police recently issued a community alert about two teenagers attacking and robbing people near Roosevelt and Halsted.

Across the entirety of Chicago, violent crime fell by 6.6 percent last year versus 2008, while property crimes dropped by 9.3 percent.

Contact: mmaidenberg@chicagojournal.com