The opening sentence of the Oak Park Police Department’s mission statement reads: “We recognize that citizen involvement is the cornerstone of community policing.” These words best express why I am calling on residents to play an even more active role in preventing crime and reporting suspicious activity.


Statistically, crime is down in Oak Park. But last year, we experienced several serious incidents. And, of course, there were a spate of garage break-ins and bicycle thefts. While these incidents may have caused residents a certain level of anxiety, both real and perceived, Oak Park remains a very safe community. But given the poverty and gang violence that occurs near our borders, we must take community policing to heart and work together to remain vigilant when it comes to public safety.


In order to strengthen the cooperative spirit and communications among residents and police, provide increased visibility and address real and perceived public safety concerns, the police department will enhance its community policing program with two key initiatives-neighborhood foot patrols and volunteer block captains.


Between May and September, from to , Resident Beat Officers (RBOs) will be patrolling their respective zones on foot and bicycle. RBOs will no longer use their home as their base of operation, but will work exclusively out of their designated sub-stations.


While on neighborhood patrol, RBOs will be recruiting a volunteer on every block in the village to be a key information conduit to the neighborhood. These block captains will help RBOs disseminate both general crime prevention tips and emergency alerts. Serving primarily as liaisons between their neighbors and police, block captains will create contact lists and telephone trees, tools that can help ensure that important and accurate information is shared among neighbors in a timely fashion.


The time commitment is minimal, but the benefits can be tremendous. Having an individual on every block who knows how to reach out to the neighbors can greatly enhance police communications efforts as well as help build a sense of community at the neighbor-to-neighbor level.


Individuals interested in becoming block captains or learning more about the program, should let their RBOs know. Detailed contact information on RBO beat boundaries and contact information is posted at www.oak-park.us/police.


In addition to these initiatives, I also am urging neighbors to keep an eye out for each other and take steps individually to reduce the crimes of opportunity like garage burglaries and bicycle thefts that represent nearly 90 percent of all criminal activity in Oak Park.


Much of the crime in our community is preventable. Residents who remember a few simple steps, such as locking doors, installing lights with motion detectors and not leaving valuables unsecured in plain sight, can do wonders to reduce crime in their neighborhoods.


Citizens also need to be aware of their surroundings and to think before choosing a lightly traveled route after dark or late at night. Residents may call the police department after dark and request an officer to stand by while they park their car and enter their residence.


While Oak Park is geographically compact at only four and a half square miles, more than 100 miles of streets crisscross the community. Combined with the miles of alleys, police patrols simply cannot be everywhere, which is why citizen involvement is so important. Residents should never hesitate to call 9-1-1 when they see something or someone that strikes them as suspicious. We would much rather respond to a call and discover it was nothing than to have to come after a crime was committed.


Finally, I want to urge residents to attend regular zone meetings to keep up with what is happening in their neighborhoods. Of course, the department will always be ready and willing to meet with residents to talk about what they can do as a neighborhood to help fight crime in our community.


As our mission statement says, citizen involvement is the cornerstone. So please get involved.

 

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