Thursday, March 25, 2010

Beat 2523 Meeting Last Night (3-24-10)

Good morning, everyone. Our Beat, 2523, meeting continues to grow. Even though it wasn't packed, there were still new faces at this meeting.

The old issue that was talked about from last month's meeting was the one on Avers (I'm being asked not to give out exact block numbers or addresses from this point on, and I'll explain why). With this issue, basically, the police have checked the issue out, and Sergeant Weiglein was going to issue citations on the building.

Now on to new problems:
  • On Hamlin, there's been some sort of activity going on with plywood being stolen off of a resident's building, among some other things, such as gang activity.
  • In an alley west of Pulaski, there's been dead animals found. They've had body parts chopped off. This may be some sort of ritual, according to a resident.
  • On Fletcher, there's been a new round of drug sales going on. And lots of it.
  • On Lawndale, there's been a problem with groups gathering in an alley for parties until the wee hours of the morning.
  • On Milwaukee, there's been prositution and some robberies.
  • On Kenosha, there has been lots of problems with teens coming by in cars, and then hanging out on the street/sidewalk, drinking in public and doing drugs. This issue did take up a pretty good portion of the meeting.
  • Around Diversey and Lawndale (not on our Beat) - Tons of gangbangers gather in front from 5-5:30pm, smoking blunts and stuff. They even hold up signs saying "Blunts 4 sell". This is in front of a store at that location.
  • On Haussen, there's gang graffiti, including the message "we run this 'hood".

Other observations:
> This is the about the address thing: Sergeant Weiglein and the Beat Faciliator have asked me not to publish exact addresses and blocks anymore on these reports, because residents fear retaliation from gang members and other criminals. This was brought to their attention by a resident. I just want to say, I truly apologize if I've made any of you fear retaliation and discouraged you from coming to these meetings. You should not have to live like that. I will also apply this to my reports starting now coming from the scanner regarding gang/narcotics activity. I completey understand how you feel. Like Weiglein said to me, if any of you really want addresses for these problems, go to the meetings and get them yourself. I will no longer provide them. It's not worth getting people hurt over it. And, for those of you who do blogs or have accounts on Facebook, Twitter, etc., if you're reporting on a problem, please, don't give exact addresses. We don't need idiot criminals hurting residents. But, I would appreicate it if people come to me next time with a concern about my blog first. It's not exactly nice just to go to the Beat Faciliator and the police and don't tell me about an issue.
> A resident, and a really frequent reader :), really exposed my blog at the meeting, in a good way. The person basically expressed what I do, and why I do it.
> Sergeant Weiglein has put in a request for somebody from the 911 center to come to the next meeting (April 28, 2010) to explain how the 911 operations work. They'll explain to the residents how the calls come in.
> The most incidents took place in the 2800 block of North Pulaski. The most crimes were, as usual, battery (16 reported incidents), theft (10 reported incidents) and criminal damage (8 reported incidents). The most incidents took place on Friday (12 reported incidents) and Thursdays (11 reported incidents). Most incidents took place on the street (20 reported incidents) and in apartments (11 reported incidents). The most incidents took place in the 4pm, 8pm and 10pm hours.

As usual, I thank everyone for being involved in this meeting. We can still make Avondale better, if we all do our part.

Thank you,
Timmy

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