CHICAGO - Edgewater residents butted heads with local police on Tuesday when demands for increased visibility were met with budget complaints and requests for community help.
The meeting, organized by the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy program, was dominated by concerns over gang activity. Several residents who came to the Broadway Armory described groups of gang members loitering and dealing drugs on streets throughout the area.
“We know who all these people are,” said Sgt. Jim Morley, the head of the gang task force for local beat 2022. “We’ve been dealing with them for years. We’ve been putting them in jail for years. They get out – they come back.”
Morley’s explanation was unacceptable to most of the 40 or so residents in attendance. Many locals, including Louise Rohr, voiced their demand for additional footmen during the more dangerous hours of the day.
“These criminals know when the patrol cars come around, they know [the] schedule,” said Rohr, the beat facilitator for the police department. “All it will take is more police officers on foot to get them to move on.”
“What can you do to increase our visibility?” Sgt. Sacks asked. “You’re our eyes and ears. When you see something that’s out of place on Thorndale or something that’s strange to you, you have to call 911. The squeaky wheel gets the grease…There’s a lot of stuff going on so we can’t be everywhere, but we can be directed by you.”
According to Sacks, the police were recently able to catch a man in possession of narcotics with help from a local resident. The unidentified man took pictures of a person selling drugs, and police used those photos to identify the criminal.
“This is the kind of stuff you can do for us,” Sacks explained. “We said, ‘Give us a description.’ He gave us pictures.”
“You’re going to be a presence for us,” Sacks said. “You’re going to show the community is concerned…The judge knows he’s being watched and he’s not going to just dismiss the charge.”
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