Back in 2021 and based on LCA’s commitment to help our community be a safe place to live, work, play and visit, we developed and issued a public safety survey (based on a widely used U.S. Department of Justice community survey) to:

1. provide our community with relevant and useful information on public safety topics of concern via LCA Newsletters; and
2. to share your concerns with CPD’s 18^th District Leadership and our Alderman, in part to improve police-community-government partnership.

We recently reissued that survey (with a few additional questions) and asked you to respond with appropriate answers based on your personal observations and opinions – and told you that as we did in 2021, we’d share survey results with you and the complete survey results (including your anonymous comments) with CPD District leadership and our Alderman. So below, please find: a comparison of our community’s 2021 and 2024 rank ordered public safety concerns; several survey observations; and next LCA steps in sharing survey results.

Summary Survey Observations:

• Though we’re happy that 85 people responded to LCA’s 2024 survey, it’s interesting to wonder why more people (155) completed our 2021 Public Safety Survey? Perhaps because crime rates spiked during the height of the pandemic to higher rates then now, because of a few highly publicized crimes in the LCA area in 2021, or because fewer people were traveling, and many were working remotely and people simply had more time to worry about crime?
• Quite a few survey responses complained about a perceived lack of offender accountability, court leniency, and the justice system’s failure to detain arrestees, etc.
• Similar to 2021 results, more responses voiced 1) complaints about police responsiveness, visibility, resources and availability and about feeling unsafe in LCA communities than expressed 2) appreciation for our local police and the relative safety of LCA communities.

Our next steps:

• LCA will send a full survey report containing all anonymous comments (including highlighted comments containing possibly actionable information) to: 1) CPD’s 18th District leadership; 2) Alderman Timmy Knudsen; and to 3) our elected 18^th District Police Council members.
• Future LCA newsletters and communications will use your survey responses, meetings with local law enforcement and government leaders, and our research to continue providing useful public safety data and ideas on how to keep yourself and your family and household and/or business safe from harm.

Please stay safe, get to know your neighbors, and take good care of each other!