burglaries and crime watch
a few thoughts from the ''outside''... I've heard more about crime in Historic Kenwood in the past few months from potential home buyers and residents. With more exposure of the neighborhood (that great marketing!) also comes more scrutiny. I think it would be helpful to become more active against crime than just calling the police. I do not favor marches as they can have a negative aspect as well.. One that has worked well for us in Central Oak Park well is a crime watch meeting immediately prior to the neighborhood meeting. People who are concerned about crime can come before the neighborhood meeting and discuss with CPO crime issues and stay for the neighborhood meeting. If they are not interested in the neighborhood association business, they can leave, and vice versa. It's a great way to help stay focused on what your goals area. The Neighborhood Assoc can focus on neighborhood issues other than crime. The other tool that we utilize is citizen patrol. Residents can walk, bike, or ride throughout the neighborhood and call in suspicious activity to the police...(also a great way to look for code violations) This is really only visible to the criminal element, that knows when they are being watched. We've never had any confrontations or trouble, they move inside the home and eventually out of the neighborhood. It's also very flexible as to when residents can participate. They travel in pairs and could be people that walk or bike the neighborhood at any time...It continues to grow in our neighborhood with more & more people getting involved, and I think has been very effective in certain crime tracts(we have several in our neighborhood). Just some thoughts, and hope you don't mind them coming from ''outside''....Brian
a few thoughts from the ''outside''... I've heard more about crime in Historic Kenwood in the past few months from potential home buyers and residents. With more exposure of the neighborhood (that great marketing!) also comes more scrutiny. I think it would be helpful to become more active against crime than just calling the police. I do not favor marches as they can have a negative aspect as well.. One that has worked well for us in Central Oak Park well is a crime watch meeting immediately prior to the neighborhood meeting. People who are concerned about crime can come before the neighborhood meeting and discuss with CPO crime issues and stay for the neighborhood meeting. If they are not interested in the neighborhood association business, they can leave, and vice versa. It's a great way to help stay focused on what your goals area. The Neighborhood Assoc can focus on neighborhood issues other than crime. The other tool that we utilize is citizen patrol. Residents can walk, bike, or ride throughout the neighborhood and call in suspicious activity to the police...(also a great way to look for code violations) This is really only visible to the criminal element, that knows when they are being watched. We've never had any confrontations or trouble, they move inside the home and eventually out of the neighborhood. It's also very flexible as to when residents can participate. They travel in pairs and could be people that walk or bike the neighborhood at any time...It continues to grow in our neighborhood with more & more people getting involved, and I think has been very effective in certain crime tracts(we have several in our neighborhood). Just some thoughts, and hope you don't mind them coming from ''outside''....Brian
