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Weekly Deployment Meeting Highlights

In the Squad Room - The Long Arm of the Law

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. 

On 5/18, detectives in the Juvenile Bureau charged Kenneth Lewis, 56 years old and a resident of Arvada, Colorado with sexual assault against a minor.  The incident took place at an Evanston hotel in July 2001. Lewis, then a Catholic priest, was traveling with the family who were on vacation from their home in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  At the time of the incident, the male victim was 13 years old.  A complaint was filed in 2004, but charges could not be brought against the offender at that time. The case was reopened in 2017 and there was an arrest warrant for Lewis. Federal Customs Agents arrested Lewis when he arrived in Atlanta on a flight from Ecuador. Lewis was extradited back to Evanston and formally charged.

Icons missing from the past three This Week’s Crime Map returned in spades during this deployment period (see the Map below).  Details follow. 

Now the rest of the news.  

Deployment Meeting – May 23, 2018

• A doorbell security camera caught a package pirate in flagrante delicto at an address in the 800 block of Sheridan 5/22. Video revealed him using a utility knife to open the package before fleeing empty-handed.         
• Unlocked vehicles resulted in 14 motor vehicle burglaries, most of them occurring in northeast and southeast Evanston.  Crime Analyst Ring noted that most happened midweek during the overnight hours.  Proceeds included anything portable – from loose change and phone chargers to purses and laptops.          
• A victim reported being kicked in the head and robbed of $3,000 in an apartment building lobby in the 1400 block of Chicago Avenue on 3/21.  The offenders were described as a black male and a black female.         
• On 5/19, police charged Kejuan Little with Aggravated Unlawful Use of a Weapon.  He fled on foot after being pulled over by cops in a routine traffic stop in the 1200 block of Lee. Six rounds of ammunition and 28 grams of cannabis found in his vehicle.  There were numerous outstanding warrants for his arrest and he was taken into custody.        
• An altercation between a crossing guard and a pedestrian on 5/23 led to injuries to the crossing guard. EPD is investigating to identify and arrest the offender.         
• The Juvenile Bureau completed its most recent alcohol compliance check and found three establishments in violation.  Tobacco compliance checks are next.           
• Around the same time that EPD officers were notified of shots fired around 1 PM on 5/18, two individuals with gunshot wounds arrived at Presence St. Francis Hospital.  The Chicago men, 20 and 21 years old, reported being shot sitting in a car in the 300 block of Custer.  One day earlier, shots were fired in the 1700 block of Payne.  The incidents are thought to be connected.  An investigation is underway.          
• There were five Text-a-Tips last week according to Communications Coordinator Kuempel. Two were noise complaints, two were reports of suspicious activity and one tipster alerted police to three teens who were out after curfew. (The Juvenile Bureau will be increasing its monitoring of curfew violations over the summer months when more teens are out and about.)         
• Two vehicles were stolen last week.  On 5/22, a 2018 Honda was stolen on the 700 block of Asbury and a 2016 Nissan was stolen from the 900 block of Sherman on 5/17.         
• A bicycle-riding thief, previously caught on surveillance video, was able to make off with two six-packs of beer from the downtown Target location.         
• They were there: Members of the Problem Solving Team attended a neighborhood meeting at 1800 Sherman and 4th, 5th and 9th Ward meetings. They led a safety talk for young Evanstonians (see photo above) at the McGaw YMCA Children’s Center, attended the OGA breakfast, a Safety Day event at the Goldfish Swim School and a Community Conversations meeting at the Civic Center. 

The Week Ahead:

• Traffic Sergeant Williams would like to remind you that the EPD will be conducting a roadside safety checkpoint from Friday night, 5/25 into Saturday 5/26, as a part of the "Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over" traffic enforcement campaign to reduce impaired driving. ·         
• You can still participate in resolving the City’s budget crisis by responding to the 2019 Priority-Based Budgeting – Resident Survey.  The survey, which asks community members to rank 46 programs and services, is available online at here. Survey responses will be accepted until 6/7.  
• Pedestrians crossing Main and Sheridan early in the morning have reported drivers blowing the stoplight at that intersection.  Cops are on it.      
• PST officers will attend the 8th Ward meeting, the Citizen Police Academy graduation ceremony and a Police Explorers meeting on 5/24.  They’ll also be on hand for a full weekend of events at James Park and the Levy Center over the holiday weekend.  To keep Dillo Day (scheduled for 6/2) celebrations under control in the off-campus neighborhoods near NU, ‘walks and talks’ will commence next week. 

Inquiring Minds What is Police Appreciation Day and when did it start? The Police Appreciation Ceremony first began in May 1997 at the Merrick Rose Garden. After several years, the 15-minutes ceremony was relocated to the police station and an appreciation meal was added.  (It’s an especially good day for a deployment meeting – as it was this year on 5/23 - because there’s a veritable feast in the Squad Room.) The event is a part of the Evanston Police Department Law Enforcement Celebration of Service and Memorial Program hosted by the Clergy Team and the Citizen Police Academy Alumni Association.  This year, it ran from 5/13-19. The event, associated with the National Police Appreciation Week that dates back to President John F. Kennedy in 1962, honors law enforcement and salutes police officers that risk their lives every day in the line of duty. This made me curious about Evanston police officers that lost their lives on the job.  Here’s what I found out: The first was George W. Daugherty who was shot and killed by a robber in 1885. The second was James Shea who was shot in the chest by a crook passing bad checks in 1915. And the third was Warren Henry Omslaer who died in a motorcycle accident in 1927. All three of the Evanston Police Officers who lost their lives in the line of duty have their names engraved on the National Police Monument in Washington D.C. President George H.W. Bush said of the National Police Monument , "Carved on these walls is the story of America, of a continuing quest to preserve both democracy and decency, and to protect a national treasure that we call the American dream." If you’d like to show your appreciation for the EPD, there are a few ways you can do it.  Show up for Police Appreciation Day next year. Join the Citizen Police Academy. Make a donation to one of the EPD’s favorite charities. (The best way to do this is not to fall prey to telemarketers from various benevolent police and fire fundraisers. The EPD sees little or none of that and many of them are scams, plain and simple.)  Treats for the staff are always welcome. And finally, offer a little respect and a smile. Cops risk their lives every day to keep you safe.

Please keep your questions coming.  Send them to Commander Ryan Glew 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..   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.