Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page.

Weekly Deployment Meeting Highlights

In the Squad Room - Crimes of Opportunity

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. 

This Week's Highlights

Standing straight and looking sharp...outdoor roll call in the 1800 block of Darrow on 7/26.

Weekly Crime Map

According to Crime Analyst Ring and Detective Tortorello, there have been 27 residential burglaries and 51 vehicle break-ins since the first of June.  The police department has stepped up its multiple burglary suppression tactics, resulting in a marked decrease in property crimes during the month of July.

Still, with few exceptions, motor vehicle burglaries result from unlocked vehicles, vehicles with windows rolled down, often with valuables like backpacks, cell phones and laptops in plain view. Most occur overnight and areas of east Evanston south of campus to Chicago were hit hardest. Saturday and Tuesday nights appear to be popular times for burglars to cruise the streets, checking for unlocked doors.

Residential burglaries, logically, happen during the day when most people are at work. Apartments and condos on the south end of Evanston account for a significant amount of the burglaries.  Most occur midweek. Residences are entered through open windows or by removing screens or window air conditioners. Forced entry using pry tools on front or back doors account for a much smaller percentage of the reported incidents.

Citizens can help to eliminate these crimes of opportunity by securing their homes and vehicles. It takes a burglar less than a minute to break into a house, and 8-12 minutes to take what they want and get out. The EPD will be stepping up its efforts to educate the public on these simple crime prevention tips, but you can help by spreading two words: lock up.

Now the rest of the news. 

Click to enlarge

Deployment Meeting – July 31, 2019 

Discussed at the meeting:

• On 7/30, a cat burglar entered a residence in the 2100 block of Washington and took a cellphone with accessories. 
• Police responded to a shots fired call on 7/29 at 9:49 PM about gunfire heard near Ashland and Lyons. The area was checked but nothing was found.
• On 7/28, two males approached a victim and displayed a weapon in the 100 block of Callan at 2:25 AM and robbed him of $30 in cash and a watch. An investigation is underway.
• Last week, most of the bicycles that were stolen were locked to bike racks. This week, nine bikes were stolen, seven of them unsecured from bike racks or left unlocked in common areas.
• Lock your garages, too: There were two burglaries to unlocked garages (one in the 1800 block of Dodge and the other in the 900 block of Asbury) during the deployment period. Crooks took a pass on four bicycles in one of the incidents, but made off with a fifth valued at $1200.
• Residents will begin to see more EPD outdoor roll calls at locations across the city. Daily roll calls begin each of the EPD’s three daily shifts and provide commanders with the opportunity to communicate with officers on specific missions and directives. When held outside the squad room, they serve as a reminder to residents (and offenders) that police are present in their communities.
• Text-a-Tips for the week: There were six this week, including narcotics tips (2), suspicious individuals (1), a report of shoplifting (1), possible gang retaliation (1) and a broken water main (1).
• Rideshare rules: Make sure you check the vehicle make, model and license plate before getting into vehicle. The driver should also be able to state your name.  Last week, an offender was posing as a rideshare driver.
• The EPD will soon have a total of 220 new Motorola radios, one for each of the department’s sworn officers along with units provided to Public Works, the EFD, NUPD (Northwestern University Police Department) and security personnel at Districts 65, 292 and the Civic Center.
• According to the Traffic Bureau, the 8^th Annual Randy Walker Memorial 5K held on 7/28, with 800+ participants running, was without incident.  
• Primary deployment for the PST (Problem Solving Team) during this period were foot patrols in Beat 77, visiting businesses along Howard St. and Evanston’s many houses of worship. They were on hand for the Police Job Fair, Pride Fest, the Saturday Farmers Market and the antique car show at Mustard’s Last Stand, along with reading to kids at Mason Park and KinderCare. They attended 3^rd Ward, 8^th Ward, District 65, and Evanston Public Library meetings and still found time for a station tour.

The Week Ahead          

• What’s next for the PST: Project Bridge event, Project Bond, Jamaican Fest, and Tuesday’s National Night Out events at Penny Park, Twiggs Park, Kamen Park, the Evanston Public Library Library, Y.O.U., Evanston Animal Shelter, and Howard Street.
• The Armored Car will be deployed to the 200 block of Custer.
• Plan ahead: The City of Evanston, the EPD and the CPAA (Citizen Police Academy Alumni Association) invite you to attend "Coffee with a Cop" on Tuesday, 8/13. The location will be Beth's Little Bake Shop at 1814 Central Street from 10 AM to noon.

Inquiring Minds

Inquiring Minds: Where can I get rid of old or unused medications?

Just about all of us have, whether from sports injuries or surgeries, unused pain and other medications around the house. And if you’re a person of a certain age, you’ve probably cleared out an aging parent’s enormous inventory of prescription drugs. (I have done this – twice.) The question becomes what to do with this stuff.

Here’s why you need to dispose of it: Storing unused, unwanted, or expired medicines can lead to accidental poisoning, drug abuse, and even drug trafficking. There’s an environmental issue, too. Unfortunately, when people dispose of their medicines, they often flush them down the toilet, not knowing that most wastewater treatment plants aren’t designed to safely remove medicine from water. As a result, these drugs end up contaminating our lakes, streams, rivers, and waterways.

The collection box in the EPD lobby

Drug take-back collection programs provide communities with a simple, safe, and effective way to dispose of their leftover medicines. So if you have unwanted or unused medications lying around the house, you can get rid of them safely – 365 days a year, 24 hours a day - with the pill disposal and collection program administered by the Cook County Sheriff's Prescription Drug Take Back Program. There’s a mailbox-looking disposal unit (see photo) to the right of the front door as you enter EPD Headquarters at 1454 Elmwood. For more information on the program and an informative video click here. 

The program, started in 2012, helps to keep prescription drugs away from people who might otherwise become victims of prescription drug abuse. Teens abuse prescription drugs more than any illicit street drug except weed and 70 percent of people who abuse prescription drugs say they get them out of the medicine cabinets of family and friends.

We need more questions...from you...the COMMUNITY! Email them to Commander Glew and we’ll do our best to provide the answers. If you put In The Squad Room in the subject line, they’ll find their way to me.

Gun Buyback Program

The Ongoing 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.

Crime Reports

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.   Subscribe to Evanston’s Daily Crime Report by email or view the Monthly Crime Statistics that are reported on a yearly basis to the FBI.

Citizen Police Academy

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.