Some commentary on the SCC Blog today in regards to the combining of Zones. My first thought was this is temporary due to shortages, but this commentary peaked my interest. Not sure if it can be confirmed though:
"Not because of shortages. 19,20,24 are going to be the same zone now. CPD wants it to help with responses to all the robberies and carjackings. A major excuse at compstat meetings is that many of the carjackings are happening in 019 or 020 and then that same car is used several minutes later for robberies in these neighboring districts without the neighboring district even knowing. By the time the robberies and carjackings already happen the car is gone and the neighboring district is too late. The same thing is for 002 and 003. Both have their own zone and many of the robberies in the area around university of Chicago originate in 002. Most of the university of Chicago is in 002 but some of it is in 003 so it’s the same problem that 19,20,24 is facing with response times and multiple robberies across district lines within minutes."
This would be interesting since many years ago some Districts went to single zones. The only other district now on their own zone is 9th District on Zone 13. This covers the Bridgeport area, Comiskey Park..um...US Cellular....um, whatever it's called today. The only "possibility" would be combining the 9th District with either Zone 3 (12th/14th Districts) to the north, or Zone 6 (7th/8th Districts) to the south and west and they share a border with both districts. Also, the P25 trunking system is being slowly rolled out and I wonder if this will be the new norm?
**A little ancient history on CPD listening. Many years ago (late 70's-early 80's), some zones had 3 districts on them in the "old room" on 11th State 2nd floor. Zone 9-13 were put in service on the 3rd floor, and initially Zone 9 carried 6th, 7th, 22nd districts. What's that old saying "what's old is new"...**
