Evanston 6th Ward Blog

Resident summary of Dec. 8 neighborhood meeting December 10, 2009

From 6th Ward resident, Maria Marini:

For those of you who were unable to attend tonight, I thought I would summarize what I thought were a few of the highlights of the meeting. Chief Eddington, Sgts. Moran and Mulligan, Officer Spells and Alderman Mark Tendam were there to speak to about 80 people.

• Crime stats for burglaries in 2009 are lower than for the comparable period (Oct. – Nov) in 2008, both city-wide and in our ward.
• Burglaries tend to pick up after Halloween to coincide with the holiday season.
• Since October, the EPD has been increasing their presence in our area with marked and unmarked patrol and undercover cars, and undercover officers on foot and on bicycles. They also use “bait cars” to attract and catch criminals who may be targeting our area.
• The sergeants have responded to the recent burglaries by adjusting the hours of their shifts as needed to coincide with the times that the burglaries occurred.
• The sergeants have noted several open garages in our area and houses with no lights on. These are attractive targets for thieves.
• The two houses burglarized on Grant were corner houses, which is counter-intuitive, even to the police officers. There must have been something about the houses that made them attractive to the criminals.
• In the recent burglaries when many items (including large TVs) were stolen, the police feel that the burglars were likely working in teams of at least two.
• By contrast, the burglaries/car thefts that happened on Noyes and in Evanston/Skokie over the summer fit the MO of a single burglar. No one was apprehended in the two Noyes burglary cases from the summer, but a suspect in those cases was convicted on a parole violation and there have not been any similar burglaries reported since.
• On Nov. 22, the police apprehended a car thief to whom three cases of auto theft were attributed.
• The use of lights and motion detectors is encouraged. If your motion detector is not working, check to see if the light has been tampered with or the bulb removed. This may be a sign that your house has been targeted.
• Several neighbors noted that they are seeing more police in the area and calling more to report suspicious activity or persons. When you call in suspicious activity, you can indicate that you would like to speak to the responding officer when he/she arrives.
• The police reinforced the messages that we have received from our initial Neighborhood Watch meeting and from Officer Spells about crime posted on our Group site).
• Several neighbors expressed interest in forming watch groups for their blocks/areas.

PLEASE keep calling the police for ANYTHING you feel warrants investigation. The non-emergency number is: 847 866-5000

[Over 70 people signed up to be a part of a neighborhood watch group. If you would like to join or create a group for your area, please reply by clicking "add a comment," just below the title of this post or email me at mark.tendam@comcast.net --Mark]