Minutes, July 17, 2006, beat meeting
Officiates:
Kevin O’Neil, CAPS Beat Facilitator.
Minutes recorded by Jayne M. Hoffman.
Below is a recap from the meeting. Meeting notes are paraphrased. Quotations are marked accordingly.
I. Welcome: introductions and announcements.
7:03pm: Kevin opened with comments. Kevin welcomed everyone. Neither Sgt. Cooper nor the representative from the Alderman’s office could be here this evening.
Kevin: The 24th District Advisory committee holds a fund pool containing monies donated by Allstate Insurance for safety programs. We decided to purchase personal-safety devices for the beat meeting attendees. We’re also giving away “The Club,” (anti-auto-theft device). There will be a drawing to give away four at the ending of the meeting, so hold on to those numbers given to you at the door.
II. Arrest data and ICAM report. Click here to go to June crime stats. For ICAM reports, click here.
Kevin reported the city council passed a new gang loitering ordinances, requiring that offenders warned to disperse must stay away for eight hours now. Previously, they had to stay away for three hours.
Kevin extended Sgt. Cooper’s challenge from the last beat meeting to call 911 and be persistent by following up and maintaining communications with the police.
III. Updates on problems from last meeting.
The building owner of 1301-03 Morse/6932-34 Lakewood: nothing new at this time.
1237-43 W. Lunt: Kevin: Mr. Alex Mindea owns this building. A team of citizens has been addressing this problem building since last summer. This group took a break through the winter, and has begun moving forward since spring to compel Mr. Mindea to clean up his building. We brainstormed and came up with a sizeable list of suggestions to discuss in a meeting with Mr. Mindea at the Alderman’s office.
We pulled statistics and discovered that there were about 155 calls for service (911 calls) last year to his building. This contrasts greatly to a nearby building with just 13 calls for service in the last year.
Click here for details of demands on Mr. Mindea and his response.
Kevin: We have made some progress. A citizen who lives at 1237 Lunt confirmed that some things have improved in the building. She knew the previous owner and stated that earlier, Mr. Mindea was not screening tenants. Now he is. He has planted some flowers, and secured the front gate. He said that he needed some support from within the building to help in witnessing the issues going on so he could evict these people. The 1241-43 addresses have been the primary source of problems.
1345 Lunt/1340 Morse: Citizen: her son is afraid to leave the building because he’s been targeted by aggressors who hang out on the Lunt side. Kevin: the building manager is Harris Block. This building has problems similar to those at the 1237-43 Lunt. Service calls have also been high: 174 calls at 1340 Morse, and 138 calls on the Lunt side, which works out to approximately 1 call every 2 days for a year.
We asked Mr. Block for many of the same things as we asked Mr. Mindea: criminal background checks and credit checks, etc. He was not requiring security deposits, and promised to begin doing that as well as change his advertisements to commensurate with the new policy. Some security lights weren’t working. Are they replacing the sensors? Citizen: No. Kevin: Chris Hill, the on-site caretaker, and present at the meeting, has offered to sign complaints for people who witness illicit activities.
Click here for details of demands on Mr. Block of the 1345 W. Lunt / 1340 W. Morse buildings, and his response. A follow-up meeting is scheduled for Aug. 8.
1345 Lunt/1340 Morse (cont’d). Citizen: I’ve had several people from these buildings harassing people and hopping the fence into my yard. What do I do when I file a report? Officer: we can arrest for illegal trespassing. You would need to sign a complaint, and to go to court.
Kevin: “I recommend that you call [911], and provide your name.” Also, if you give the police your telephone number, they will call you when they have the perpetrators in sight or arrested. Officer: We’ll call you back, so when we hit the area, you can tell us what (and who) to look for. We need you to give as much information describing the perps, how many there are, and what they are doing.
Citizen: “What kind of protection do you offer citizens?” Officer: there are court advocates who will go with you. More than half the time offenders don’t want to bother to show up for court, and an arrest warrant is issued.
Kevin: You can also call me and I’ll go, or call the 24th District and someone will go to court with you. Kevin: “When I’ve called [911], the police would meet me in a safe place near the crime scene … In my experience, perps have prior arrests or warrants already.” Each time I’ve gone to court, the defendants have never appeared. For example, I called on one perp. who was turning tricks in my back alley. They arrested him for simple assault since he threatened me, which would only hold him for a few hours. I went to court and he didn't show up. However, he had an outstanding warrant for a more severe crime and the judge required $5,000 bail. He was arrested a few days later and the perp sat in jail for two weeks since he could not make bail.
IV. Identify new problems.
Citizen: expressed concern that he’s witnessed more drug dealing on the 1300 block of Lunt lately than in his 18 years living there. Kevin and Officers asked if he was calling 911 whenever he witnesses drug deals and other illicit acts taking place. Citizen: stated that he signed a report and went to court once, but the perpetrator did not do any time. He said that he’d call file a report if the criminal actually receives punishment: “a slap on the wrist” doesn’t qualify as punishment. Officer: street drug deals are difficult to arrest because by the time we arrive at the scene, the perpetrators have finished and fled. Kevin: we have been targeting the problem rental buildings on that block of Lunt. If we get rid of the bad tenants, the crimes will go as well.
1212 Lunt/7000 Sheridan: This complex is at the northwest corner of Sheridan and Lunt streets. Citizen: perps hang out on the Lunt side and harass women passing by. Prostitutes also hang around at the Lunt side: there were two prostitutes fighting not long ago.
Citizen: 1424-32 Farwell, Bil Mar building. She mentioned problems with dealing around the building. Kevin asked for residents and neighbors to come together and work on this building as other neighbors have done on the abovementioned Lunt and Morse buildings.
Citizen: I’ve seen people urinating in the parking area of a building, but didn’t call 911 because it was on private property. Police: The act can be called in as indecent exposure when on private property. Other citizens came forth with complaints about an increase in urinating in various areas of Loyola Park, especially in the grassy regions to the west of the bike path.
V. Other items of business.
* Kevin: as announced at the beginning of this meeting, we are raffling off several auto locking mechanisms, “The Club” and will do so after the announcements.
VI. Announcements.
* The Chicago Bike Federation (CBF) is hosting a family fun ride this weekend, and Ceasefire will also be there. Flyers were passed.
* “Stop the Falls” coalition formed to address the problem of children falling out of windows. The average is two-three accidents a week. Flyers were passed.
* Jayne: apologized and made a correction regarding last month’s meeting notes having forgotten to insert her own query about the distinction between, and to have “walk” and “march” defined.
* Jayne: affirmed Kevin’s previous comment regarding Sgt. Cooper’s wish for all citizens to act persistently in calling 911, and to follow through with the police. Implicitly we need to transform our perception about where our role ends and the police’s role begins. They should mesh extending relationships and increasing camaraderie with the police.
* Kevin: we had 18 people at the last community walk. It was a good turnout. The next walk will be on Friday, August 4. We meet in front of 1340 W. Morse at 7 pm.
* Kevin: go to www.caps24.org and click on Beat 2431to peruse the meeting notes.
* An officer was injured in a squad car accident in Beat 2413 in July. Bruce will bring cards for signing at the next meeting.
* What is gooning? It’s beating up someone for the sake of the beating, no theft or robbery takes place. It usually involves juveniles beating up an adult. Approximately two-three years ago Rogers Park had a problem with teenagers under 16 years old. Police say no goonings of this type have been reported in Rogers Park in the past year. Citizen: They are happening, but are not being reported. Kevin reminded everyone to report all crimes so we know what's happening in the beat, and get proper police resources to handle crime problems.
* Tuesday, August 1 at 7 pm: National Night Out. Beat 2431 and a couple of other CAPS beat areas get together and give away ice cream. Location: Morse and Clark streets.
* The next beat meeting is, Monday, August 21.
