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Weekly Deployment Meeting Highlights

In the Squad Room - Copper and Robbers

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. 

Maybe once a year the weekly Deployment Meeting is canceled when other imperatives get in the way.  That’s what happened last week, so this week’s session covered the two-week period that started on 9/7 and ended on 9/20. This Week’s Crime map (below) is populated with a lot of icons – but keep in mind the timeframe involved.   There were, both weeks, numerous motor vehicle burglaries (15) and bike thefts (11). 

Most of the car break-ins took place south of Dempster and all of them involved unlocked vehicles. Victims reported ‘unsecured cash’ missing – likely the change that everyone keeps in the car for parking meters – but in a couple of incidents, checks, a laptop computer, medication, headphones, a microphone and a backpack were taken.  In contrast, all of the stolen bikes were either secured in a common area or locked to bike racks in downtown or near transit stations.  On 9/16, the owner of one of the stolen bikes saw it advertised on Craigslist. A member of the EPD’s TAC unit posed as a buyer and arrested Chicago resident David Foster, 23, for possession of stolen property. The bike was returned to its resourceful owner. 

Copper was removed from the same residence for the third time in nine months and copper wire was stolen from a retail establishment. The current price for scrap copper is about $2.50/pound, but here, according to Popular Science, are other reasons why it’s so appealing: “Copper is one of those amazing metals that has just about every property you could ever want, for just about any purpose, and only gets better when blended with other metals into mixtures called alloys. Need to build a boat? Copper resists corrosion of salt water. Need to make something that conducts electricity and heat? Copper does both. Need to build a giant monument to liberty? Copper's there for you too--it's both strong and flexible enough to be molded into the intricate folds of Lady Liberty's dress.”

Now the rest of the news.  

Deployment Meeting – September 21, 2017

Past Week:

• Catalytic converter thieves have struck again.  One was removed from a vehicle parked in the 300 block of Darrow between 9/9 and 9/11.
• Another semi-automatic weapon is off the street.  In a familiar sequence of events, police stopped a vehicle traveling in the wrong lane of traffic in the 1900 block of Emerson on 9/11.  The front seat passenger, a juvenile from Des Plaines, was charged with a misdemeanor for the 27 grams of weed the cops seized and UUW (Unlawful Use of a Weapon), in this case a loaded Colt .380 handgun.
• Police were called to investigate the deaths of four Evanston residents over the two-week period.  None of the deaths were deemed suspicious and appear to be attributable to natural causes, pending results from the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office.
• On 9/16, Wesley Woodson, 25, was found guilty for the 2012 murder of Dajae Coleman. 
• PST was there: The 44th Citizen Police Academy class had its second and third sessions, officers led a safety exercise for staff at the Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center, officers monitored NU and ETHS football games and Fifth Ward officers stopped by the Smith Park Neighbors block party on 9/16.  They also attended First and Ninth Ward meetings and a West End Block Club meeting.  Their primary deployment was in Beats 77 and 78. What does a PST officer do if you’re caught driving distracted? (The surprising answer is in this week’s Inquiring Minds.)
• According to Traffic Sergeant Williams, several events during the period – including NU’s “Enable” solar house move, Streets Alive, the Kits and Kats Celebration and the NU/Bowling Green game - all went smoothly. He also mentioned that the annual NU Homecoming parade has been shelved this year due to the road construction on Sheridan.  NU’s Homecoming is 10/7 this year.
• Communications Coordinator Kuempel reported five Text-a-Tip calls during the period: suspected drug activity, a noise complaint, the report of a door-to-door fake utility worker scam, identification of an offender and a heads-up about a planned party.

Looking Ahead:·

• The Armored Car will be located near Foster and Dodge.
• Get ready for the 4th Annual “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes” event on 10/8.  The one-mile walk event will take place at 11AM in Centennial Park and is hosted by Northwest CASA, a non-profit agency that provides free services to those affected by sexual assault and sexual abuse. As usual, EPD officers will be participating, some (men included) tottering the route in red high heels.  You can join in and raise money for a worthy cause here.
• PST officers will continue to monitor homeless and bike complaints in the downtown area and dogs-off-leash along the lakefront.  They’ll be on hand for a coffee event at the Mather Home on 9/22, the Ninth Ward meeting on 9/2 and  the Health Fair at Presence/St. Francis Hospital on 9/24.   

Inquiring Minds:  When do distracted drivers stopped by the police get something other than a warning or a citation?  If they were stopped last week – between Tuesday, 9/12 and Wednesday, 9/13 - they got the flyer below and a device to mount their cell phones to the air vents on their vehicle dashboards.    According to PST Commander Brian Henry, over 55 flyers and mounts were distributed during the initiative. Here are some quick facts.  The CDC says that 9 people are killed and over 1000 people are injured in distracted driver incidents every day.  At 55 MPH, sending or even reading a text message takes your eyes off the road for 5 seconds, long enough to cover the length of a football field. In a 2016 study, the National Highway Safety Administration reported that 1.8% of males and 2.8% of females visibly manipulate handheld devices while driving.  One of out every 10 fatal crashes is the result of distracted driving. Text messaging creates a crash risk 23 times worse that driving while not distracted. And bringing it all home, in 2016 there were 1,591 cell phone citations issued by the Evanston PD.

Please keep your questions coming.  Send them to Commander Joe Dugan and we’ll do our best to get you the answers. If you put In The Squad Room in the subject line, they’ll find their way to me.

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 resident's 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.

If you would like to learn more about the Evanston Police Department, take an active role in Community Oriented Policing and join the ranks of over 900 graduates since 1995, please visit the Citizen Police Academy webpage and enroll now for the Fall 2017 class.   There is no cost to anyone who lives or works in Evanston. Getting to know your police force is essential in reducing crime, building trust in the community and serving the needs of the community.

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.