7 a.m. this morning. Clam's friend is standing in the middle of the intersection of Park and Crescent, stopping and yelling at cars, apparently seeking handouts. You gonna tell me there is NOTHING that can be done about this? I guess we couldn't expect a cop car to cruise past this obscure location during the morning rush!

What a wonderful way to start off the work week.

Which guy?

BTW, I'm surprised that nobody utilized a cell phone. Seems odd.

I saw the same woman this morning at 7:00 am - however, to my shame, I didn't call the GEPD until I reached the office just now. The woman answering the phone (very promptly, BTW), said the police needed to be called at the time of the sighting, and they would send an officer out. She mentioned they were aware of 'frequent flyers', who are issued citations when officers are called. I suspect some of the panhandlers think it's just a cost of doing business.

However, I added to the problem by not calling the cops right from the station. Next time, I will. And, honestly, the woman on the phone sounded very nice and very sympathetic.

And, yeah, lots of people standing toward the east end of the platform were watching - I myself didn't see any cell phones come out. I guess you really can't blame the cops if no one actually calls.

But, I'm thinking it'd be nice to see a walking patrol of the CBD.

She was gone by 7:15.

quote:

Originally posted by darlili:
The woman answering the phone (very promptly, BTW), said the police needed to be called at the time of the sighting, and they would send an officer out. She mentioned they were aware of 'frequent flyers', who are issued citations when officers are called.

<snip>

However, I added to the problem by not calling the cops right from the station.

Excuse me, but I say BULL$HIT!
This really strikes a nerve with me, the way in so many respects our town will only enforce laws if somebody complains?
I'm no crack criminal investigator, but I've got a crazy hunch that there is an outside chance that there might be 1 or 2 vagrants out and about the central business district on Monday and Friday mornings (as well as Sunday and Thursday evenings).

Of course, maybe we can work this in our favor.
Maybe we can get away with speeding, so long as we don't call the cops to complain about each other...

quote:

Originally posted by Clamato:
Which guy?

The woman who likes your car.

We complain and complain, yet when we see something that warrents a cell phone call to the police we do nothing? We may not get a lot of sympathy for our concerns if this continues.

quote:

I guess you really can't blame the cops if no one actually calls.

This is exactly right. Living next to the GW parking lot, I call them all the time. They are more than happy to respond. Many have told me so. Not a lot of real crime in GE...so I truly believe they appreciate the action.

Also, even though Phil Norton claims to NOT read Ted's board (Personally...I think this is bullsh*t), perhaps the police don't know that there is a problem. The retailers do...I can assure you of that. Until those phones get picked up by citizens or retailers and causing trouble in Glen Ellyn has negative circumstances (i.e. a ride to west Wheaton), nothing will change....ever. Get smart people. If you see a problem, get involved. Even if it is something as simple as dialing 911. You will never have to get personally involved if you don't want to.

quote:

Originally posted by Dinsdale:

quote:

Originally posted by Clamato:
Which guy?

The woman who likes your car.

And just how do you know it was her?

I don't carry a cellphone.

Again, I think something as obvious as a large scantily clad black woman standing in the middle of a major intersection a block from the police station on the morning PADs lets the bums out - is sufficiently damned obvious that our crack law enforcement types could actually figure it out themselves.

I agree with Dins...seems like it is a regular occurence and could be "prevented" if someone were posted to watch for it on the days that it happens.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. I think a police presence in the CBD on the days they know there will be more "traffic" from transient folks might prevent some of the problems from the get-go. It also might discourage some of the more difficult people from even coming around....let's all commit to taking a stand and calling the police EVERY SINGLE TIME there is something inappropriate going on. And if we all commit to NOT GIVING ANY PANHANDLER ANY MONEY, that will help as well.

Yawn.

Same **** different week.

Nobody in control cares...why should I? I'm done.

Liar.

BTW, what ever became of the concept of the beat cop? We have a cop stationed in the two high schools, IIRC, yet none assigned to the CBD. I can't imagine the village can't afford to take one out of the car and have him walking about our crown jewel.

We have them in Lombard, some of them even ride bikes and wear shorts.

quote:

Originally posted by my2cents:
We have them in Lombard, some of them even ride bikes and wear shorts.

Like this?

quote:

Originally posted by Clamato:

quote:

I guess you really can't blame the cops if no one actually calls.

Also, even though Phil Norton claims to NOT read Ted's board (Personally...I think this is bullsh*t), perhaps the police don't know that there is a problem. The retailers do...I can assure you of that.

Of course they read the board - How many local, county, state and federal officers blazed into action and spent hours investigating this very board and it's members for comments made here?

Interesting that they have chosen to turn a deaf ear to the communities near unanimous complaints.

Is there a formal mechanism for how our Village Police choose which laws it wishes to enforce? Was there an action by the Village board that I'm not aware of that granted immunity from housing and zoning ordinances or laws regarding individual conduct?

People never call the police on things like this because they are going to be on the next train out in 5 minutes. Then it's somebody else's problem.

This morning at the Lombard train station, there was a lost dog. You should have seen the numbers of people who just walked by this friendly dog (with not only a collar on, but a leash - he had clearly dashed away from somebody while on a morning walk) in a hurry to catch their train. I called the number on the dog's collar and talked to a woman who was anxiously waiting by the phone. She called her husband, who was frantically searching for the dog, on his cell phone and he appeared at the train station not 4 minutes later. A happy family united again. It was literally 5 minutes - to save a family pet. And all those people who gave the dog a pat and just kept walking to the platform. It was really sad.

quote:

This really strikes a nerve with me, the way in so many respects our town will only enforce laws if somebody complains?

Not even. I called 911 at least 8-10 times last year to report bums sleeping in PP Park or being passed out on public ways. One day I even waited and nobody showed up. Later, I found out that our GE PD will not remove overnight guests from any of our parks. As far as our village and P.D. are concerned, bums are allowed to sleep in our parks, period. How many times is one to call 911 before becoming discouraged? Nobody showing up, could be a heafty liabilty.

Think about this.....there is a very good chance that bums sleeping in the parks may be those who got turned away from PADS. Those who supposedly get turned away from PADS are violent felons and/or child molesters. Nice.

quote:

Originally posted by Dinsdale:


Excuse me, but I say BULL$HIT!
This really strikes a nerve with me, the way in so many respects our town will only enforce laws if somebody complains?

So true... same as the smoking. They won't enforce the smoking laws until someone complains...by the time they could actually see the person smoking they'd be done. Pathetic...