|
Every week, Linda Hansen attends the Evanston Police Department’s Deployment Meetings, takes notes on various topics and writes about other police-related matters of interest to ordinary citizens like her.
In the Squad Room - About Those Valet Keys
It
doesn’t happen every week in Evanston, but it happens often enough and in fact
happened this week. A car is stolen with
“keys in it.” To most of us, this sounds
a little preposterous. Who leaves keys
in cars? But if you have a car,
particularly a high performance one that was manufactured in the last several
years, you may have a spare key tucked inside the owner’s manual in your glove
box. It’s called a valet key and the
idea behind it is to prevent parking valets from opening your car’s glove box
or trunk. Car thieves – even youthful
ones – know all about valet keys.
Word
up: Now is a good time to check and see if you have one. If you do, remove it from inside your
vehicle. It is practically impossible to
hotwire a car anymore. If it takes a car
thief (or a joy rider) more than 10 seconds to try to start your car, they’re probably
going to give up.
It
was a short deployment period – just five days. Noteworthy incidents included
two motor vehicle thefts (one was an attempt), the apprehension and arrest of a
registered sex offender who exposed himself to teenage girls at the YMCA and
the arrests of several offenders for battery, resisting arrest and disorderly
conduct after a party bus dropped them off in the 700 block of Florence.
Deployment Meeting – May 13, 2015
Past Week:·
- On 5/8, there was an attempted theft of an unlocked 2006 Jeep in the
2100 block of Sherman. The interior of
the vehicle was ransacked. Thieves
attempted to force a foreign object into the ignition but were unable to start
the car.
- A 2010 Honda Civic was stolen from the 1500 block of Central on 5/9. A
police officer spotted the car the next day, just
before it crashed into a residence in the 1100 block of Brummel. None of the five Chicago teens in the vehicle
were seriously injured, but four were taken to Presence Saint Francis Hospital to
be checked out before being taken to EPD headquarters.
- Evanston resident Arthur William was arrested for simple battery of a
city employee in the 1800 block of Maple on 5/9.
- Detectives have contacted the Center for Missing & Exploited
Children to assist in the return of a habitual runaway, who is thought to be
hanging out in Chicago’s Wrigleyville neighborhood.
- Look for PST cyclists on the EPD’s fleet of Cannondales. Traffic officers have also stepped up their
efforts, including handing out flyers, to remind cyclists and motorists to
observe the rules of the road. Same
road. Same rules.
- A 4/23 incident involving an altercation between two customers at a
Starbucks that resulted in one being taken to Presence St Francis Hospital
suffering from an apparent heart attack has been cleared with no criminal
charges being filed.
- PST officers attended the Million Moms March at Twiggs Park on 5/9, and
a three-day Let’s Roll Together Bike Safety Event.
Looking Ahead·
- Police will continue to monitor the downtown area for bikes on the
sidewalks and aggressive panhandling in addition to checks on school zones,
ETHS dismissals, banks, the Civic Center and, now that the season has started,
the Farmers Market. Dog owners, be advised: we have leash laws here. Citations will be issued. The only exceptions
are the Dog Beach and Pooch Park and you’ll need permits for both of those.
- Sgt. Tracy Williams announced that Evanston will be participating in
IDOT’s Click It or Ticket Campaign that will continue through 5/25.
- PST Officers Yates and
Sengenberger will be participating in the Evanston Bike Club’s Ride of Silence
at 7 PM on 5/20. The ride, which honors
the memory of cyclists killed on roadways, begins at the Chandler Center and
ends at the Wheel and Sprocket bike shop on Davis
Inquiring Minds: The EPD recently issued a
bulletin announcing the availability of a certified child safety seat
technician to check residents’ use of car seats. We’ve been using car seats for decades now. How big a problem is this?
I
got the answer from Traffic Bureau Sergeant Tracy Williams. First, let’s look
at some stats:
- The leading cause of death of children 3-14 in the US is motor vehicle
crashes.
- 33% of kids killed in crashes were not restrained.
- There’s a direct correlation between unbuckled drivers and unsecured
kids. While that may not be so
surprising, this is:
-
Anywhere between 72-84% of
child restraints are critically misused.
-
What about teens? There’s a lot of room for improvement here. They have the lowest seat belt rate of all
age groups. Almost one in five fail to buckle up.
It’s
not just a matter of securing kids – it’s important to know when to make the
transition from back-facing to forward-facing and from booster seat to seat belt. While
the law provides age guidelines, recommendations can vary based on the size and
weight of the child. He reminds us too,
that any child under the age of 13 should ride in the back seat.
Last
year, the EPD inspected and installed 346 car seats and are on track this year
to install about 450. There is no cost for this service. Sgt. Williams stated that appointments can be
made via 3-1-1 or by calling the Traffic Bureau at (847) 866-5064. Allow about twenty minutes, start to finish.
 The ON-GOING GUN BUYBACK
PROGRAM allows Evanston residents to turn in an operational firearm to
police at any time in exchange for $100. Residents can utilize this
service by calling 311 or the Evanston Police Department
non-emergency line at 847-866-5000. A police officer will pick up the unwanted
firearm at the residents’ address and present the resident with a voucher that
can be exchanged for $100 at the city collector’s office located in the Morton
Civic Center, 2100 Ridge Ave.
Firearms should not be brought to
the police department, unless prior approval has been granted from a supervisor at the police department. An officer will call the resident after a request is
made for the officer to come to a person's residence and retrieve the firearm.
|
 What would you like to know about what the Evanston Police Department is doing to fight crime? Let us know if you have specific questions or concerns about issues in your neighborhood. Submissions are always welcome at police@cityofevanston.org or by calling the community strategies bureau at (847) 866-5019.
If you’d like to receive Evanston’s Daily Crime Report by email, you can subscribe here or view the Monthly Crime Statistics that are reported on a yearly basis to the FBI by clicking here.
|
 The Spring 12-week Citizen Police Academy class is currently in its 11th week. If you’d like to learn more about the Evanston Police Department, take an active role in Community Oriented Policing and join the ranks of 900 graduates since 1995, please visit: www.cityofevanston.org and plan to enroll in the Fall 2015 class. There is no cost to anyone who lives or works in Evanston.
|
The
weekly deployment report is an informational bulletin prepared by a community
member that keeps citizens informed about what police do on a weekly basis.
Information contained in this report is not to be considered as a media/press
release. Any information considered by a media source from this bulletin needs
to be verified by an official from the department. This can be done by
contacting the media line at 847-866-5026.
| 
