Sites near city’s homicide-plagued areas

isn’t doing more to stop the thefts.

“In a place where murders seem to be happening every single day, the last thing we need in Chicago is a rail yard with guns being stolen,” said Corey Brooks, pastor of the New Beginnings Church that hugs the yard.

There is little incentive to spend millions fortifying yards because railways are well-insured and don’t take a big financial hit when cargo is lost, said Frank Scafidi, an ex-FBI agent and spokesman for the National Insurance Crime Bureau. He said railways weigh costs such as new fencing against the odds thieves will “win the lottery” and pick the one boxcar out of thousands with guns.

“They are willing to take the risk,” Scafidi said. AREA FEELS VICTIMIZED

Outside his church, Pastor Brooks tugs on razor wire that was once strung atop a fence separating a church basketball court from the yard. It has long since rusted and largely fallen away. Children climb the fence effortlessly to fetch balls that go over.

After the theft of some 30 guns in September, several posts on Brooks’ Facebook page asked: Would there be more urgency if the yard was in an affluent area?

South Side Aldermen Pat Dowell introduced a City Council resolution after the 2015 theft demanding a public safety hearing on the railyard thefts. It never happened.

Norfolk Southern spokeswoman Susan Terpay said in an email to the AP that it was “mutually agreed” with aldermen to focus on investigations rather than disclosing “specific (security) techniques” that could aid thieves.

Terpay insisted Norfolk Southern is “doing everything within (its) power to prevent thefts,” including more patrols and K-9 units.