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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 - The Heroin Highway
 Police departments throughout the country have been
alerted to the widespread availability of cheap, potent heroin as the nation’s
new designer drug. Thank the Mexican
drug cartels. Some experts believe it’s the worst heroin epidemic in American
history, with product quality so good it can be snorted rather than liquefied
and injected. Heroin is now a standard
menu item for many neighborhood drug dealers. These factors have all led to a striking
uptick in heroin-related ODs and deaths, doubling and tripling them in some
communities. The good news is that
Evanston has not seen it. There have been isolated cases of heroin use and
dealing and that of course is investigated by our NET unit.
Local news crews have documented suburban teens
traveling I-290 (the Eisenhower Expressway now dubbed The Heroin Highway) to
pick up cheap packets of four-times-more-potent packets of heroin in K-Town, a
12-block area on Chicago’s West Side. Videos show a veritable drive-thru of
drug activity. Some suburban police
departments – Mount Prospect’s, for one - have been trained and equipped with
Naxolone, a life-saving injectable to counteract the effects of heroin and
opioid overdoses. In one Massachusetts
community, the use of the drug by first-responding police officers reduced the
death toll of overdoses from 90 residents to 9 in an 18-month period.
Anyone at risk needs to understand that snorting
heroin is just as addictive as shooting it.
It’s also just as deadly. Explain this to your teenagers and those
young adults who may still be living at home. Suburbs to the west and
northwest of are reporting spikes in heroin-related offenses and deaths that
Evanston hasn’t experienced.
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Deployment Meeting – Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Prior to This Week
The Crime Analyst reminded us (and now I’m reminding
you) that unlocked garage doors and unsecured bicycles continue to lead to
theft. There were five garage burglaries
throughout the city. There were a total
of 11 bicycle thefts – only one bike was secured. The rest were either unsecured or left in
unlocked garages or common areas.
Citizens also continue to leave mobile devices in unlocked vehicles.
- There were two Man With a Gun calls during the period: the first on
8/28 on the 1900 block of Jackson and the second on 8/31 on the 200 block of
Dewey. Witnesses to the second incident
are not cooperating.
- Between 8/29 and 8/30, vandals scratched and spray-painted nine
vehicles parked on the 1100 block of Leonard.
The next day, 9/1, a vehicle on the 1800 block of Lyons was hit with a
brick.
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Across Howard on 8/31: Two men were shot on the 7400 block of Ridge in
Chicago. One victim, 29 years of age, was pronounced dead at Presence St.
Francis Hospital and the other, also 29, survived the shooting and was taken to
Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center where his condition was stabilized.The shootings are thought to be gang-related.
- On 9/2, a female victim suffered a broken rib and other injuries in an
incident involving a known offender, subsequently arrested by the EPD.
- PST, traffic and patrol officers continued a second week of
meet-and-greets with student and parents at Evanston’s public and private
schools. The officers were also there to
educate both groups on school zone safety. EPD presence was favorably viewed by
all, but drivers may feel differently next week when school zone violations
result in consequences.
- On 9/2, EPD’s special operations group executed a search warrant for a
drug-related investigation and arrested Devon Matthews, 20, of Skokie for
cannabis possession and the possession of a TEC-22 firearm. He was charged with two misdemeanors and felonies.
- The “Drive Sober of Get Pulled Over” campaign results in 33 seat belt
violations, 29 speeding tickets, 12 cell phone violations and 47 other miscellaneous
traffic citations. And no DUIs.
- On Thursday, 9/4 members of EPDs investigative services division teamed
up with parole agents from the Illinois Department of Corrections for checking on
parolees. As a result, 16 were checked and one was arrested for possession of a
controlled substance. Look for his name in the daily crime bulletin, Dametrae
Irby.
Looking Ahead
- In the next few weeks, PST officers will be visiting 22 houses of
worship in the Fifth Ward to talk to clergy and parishioner about community
concerns and how police and citizens can join forces to work together.
- 39,000 spectators are expected to attend Northwestern’s football game
on 9/6. EPD officers will be on hand.
- Wildkit fans rejoice: It’s Friday night lights at ETHS when the
Wildkits take on Crete-Monee, starting at 7:30PM. Yes, the EPD will be there, too.
- They’re back: Northwestern student will be moving in during the next
week or so. Northwestern Police will be working with the EPD to monitor safety
and security during the off-campus move-ins.
- The free Streets Alive! event that will close down Main Street from
Dodge to Hinman Avenues is scheduled for Sunday, 9/7 from 1 to 6 PM. The mile of music, food, activities and open
space “gives Evanston community members and opportunity to experience our public
streets like never before,” according to Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl.
Inquiring Minds - What additional tools are
available to keep citizens informed of crimes in their neighborhoods?
 Here’s an interactive one. EPD partners with CrimeReports.com, the largest, most comprehensive crime-mapping website in the world. Evanston residents and businesses can enter an address and get a map view of the hundred block where the crime occurred (for example, the 800 block of Madison), the type of crime, the date and time of occurrence. The site also displays specific address information on registered sex offenders.
CrimeReports.com posts accurate, official crime information for communities across North America, so if you’re keeping an eye on Uncle Marty’s condo community in Florida, you may be able to check on it if that community is sharing data with the company. It isn’t as up-to-date as our Daily Crime Bulletin since there’s a download delay of 24 to 72 hours, but it has some nifty features. For example, you can use it on your iPhone or iPad device with a free app through Apple and there’s even a link to submit a tip (in three languages) for specific reported crimes.
Other communication tools being used by the Evanston Police Department are Facebook, Text-a-Tip (tips also can be submitted anonymously online for previously committed crimes and by phone), plus a new Twitter account,@EvanstonPD. For more information, please call 3-1-1 (847-448-4311) or Police non-emergency at 847-866-5000.
 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 handled or brought to
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.
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 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.
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 The Fall 12-week Citizen Police Academy just started this 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 800 graduates since 1995, please visit www.cityofevanston.org/cpa and plan ahead
to enroll in the Spring 2015 class. There
is no cost to anyone who lives or works in Evanston.
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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.
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