I wrote literally several hundred of these weekly police blotters covering crime, from petty and humorous to serious and deadly, in Chicago's 20th and 24th Police Districts on the North Side. The 24th District, known on the ground as Rogers Park, was easily the busiest district on that end of town during my time covering the beat. Only a few of these hundreds of blotters are linked at this website, though all of them exist somewhere in physical space, contained in weekly newspapers and/or preserved in scrapbooks. They were interesting experiments in news writing, transforming over time from something a little light in the form of semi-literary sketches, imitating the 19th and early 20th century styles—intended to make readers scoff and laugh at the failures and absurdities of humanity—into straight news reporting with nothing but professional news ethics and presentation guiding their production.
2015
April 29-May 4 : Weekly Blotter
April 22-28, 2015: Weekly Blotter
April 15-21, 2015: Weekly Blotter
April 8-14, 2015: Weekly Blotter
April 1-7, 2015: Weekly Blotter
March 25-31, 2015: Weekly Blotter
March 18-24, 2015: Weekly Blotter
2014
2013
2012
2011
These blotters are written in the Old Style. A much freer form used from mid-2010 until 2012 when I was a young reporter learning how to do the work and under an editor who allowed them to be published.
October 19-25, 2011: Weekly Blotter
September 7-13, 2011: Weekly Blotter
July 27-August 2, 2011: Weekly Blotter