“Serving Orchard Ridge for Over 50 Years”

The West District newsletter will be distributed electronically to district employees, area alder persons, neighborhood association leaders, Fitchburg PD, Middleton PD, Shorewood PD, and command staff of the Madison Police Department. The purpose of the newsletter is to provide information about incident reports, criminal activities, and special events occurring in the district with members of our community.

The West District is one of five police districts within the City of Madison. The boundaries of the district extend from Franklin Ave., Glenway, and Seminole Hwy. west to the city limits. You may view the boundaries of the West District by visiting our website, http://www.ci.madison.wi.us/police/west.html. Easy guideline:  If you are represented on the common council by: Alderpersons Thomas, Bellman, MacCubbin, Poulson, Holtzman or Skidmore, you definitely live in the area served by the West Police District.  A significant portion of Ald. Golden's district is also apart of our district. 

The area covered by the West District includes at least 60 parks, including Garner, Owen, Hoyt, Marshall and Elver. Also located in the West District are 10 public elementary schools, 6 public middle schools, and Memorial High School. West Towne, Prairie Town Center, West Gate, Hilldale, and numerous smaller retail centers. The number of commercial, residential and retail sites seem to increase on a weekly basis.

In April 2002, the geographic size of the City of Madison was 72.1 square miles. Of that 72.1, the West Police District accounts for 24.4 square miles, or over 1/3 of the total size of the City. It is geographically the largest of the 5 police districts.

Neighborhood Officers
Two new neighborhood officers have started their assignment in the Allied Dr. neighborhood. They are, Off. Jeff McPike, an eight year veteran, and Off. Dave Wixom, who started with MPD in 1999. We have also added Off. Curtis Fields, also an eight veteran, to the Hammersley Rd., Bettys Lane area. Off. Tim Harder, an MPD officer since 1996, continues his efforts in the Wexford neighborhood.

Wexford Neighborhood:  by Off. Tim Harder
The Wexford neighborhood has been pretty quiet during the month of February.  I was however busy with other commitments including, in-service training, (2) ERT training dates, and Less Lethal training.

There were 42 police calls at Wexford Ridge Apts during the month of February.  Most of which were noise or disturbance type of calls.

Off. Mike Ott's good police work resulting from a traffic stop off Flower Lane, cracked several of the car break ins on Tree Lane. A search warrant was also executed at 7107 Flower Lane for recovery of some stolen items resulting from Officer Ott's investigation.

The Neighborhood Center has given up on the land use at Jefferson Middle School for a new center. They are pursuing to work with Meridian on possible land acquisition at Wexford.

The Neighborhood Center had a teen dance at Jefferson Middle for Black History Month.


Allied Dr. Neighborhood:  By Jeff McPike & Dave Wixom

We have been very busy responding to the neighborhood's vehicle and suspicious persons traffic concerns. During the month we conducted 6 vehicle stops and 67 suspicious persons contacts. We also issued 21 trespass tickets. We actually had more but I didn't document all of my contacts, although, I am doing that now. On February 5th we attended JFF team meeting. On February 12th we met with the Mayor and landlords regarding Allied issues. Off. McPike also gave a presentation to the Bettys lane neighborhood association.

On February 15th there was an Emergency Response Team (ERT) call to the 2400 blk of  Allied Dr. reference subject barricaded in the apartment with a shotgun. This incident was resolved by arresting the subject without further incident.  

On February 19th we attended the Allied Community Center residents meeting to discuss issues in the neighborhood. Neighborhood safety issue strategies were discussed. On February 20th we assisted Fitchburg in making an arrest of a person that was wanted for a domestic incident.

The Task Force continues to provide support to the neighborhood. On the 20th they stopped a stolen vehicle coming out of 2326 Allied Dr. Of the four people contacted in the vehicle, two physical arrests were made and the other two were given tickets for trespass.
 
Hammersley / Bettys Lane: by Off. Curtis Fields

March 17 Safe Homes Survey goes out from backpack mail at Falk Elementary. Our goal is to use this survey to assess needs within the Community and provide better services when the Resource Center opens at the end of this month...WE HOPE.

Mike Bruce from JFF will be helping me with youth initiatives by starting a Youth Soccer League for the Hammersley Neighborhood kids. We have the fields at Falk Elementary reserved for the summer and have money coming from a Community Grant to get things going...Great Job Mike!!!

Dave Morgan from the West YMCA will be helping us out with scholarships for low-income families so kids can attend day camp and take swim lessons. We will also be sponsoring a Family Safety Day in the Fall with Dave and his group which will consist of a car seat check, vehicle safety, home safety, identity theft, etc. ...looking forward to a long relationship helping the community with Dave and his team.

Neighborhood Watch: The Hammersley Neighborhood Watch group is currently 20+ strong. The group will be meeting 3/12 to discuss sign placement in the area, traffic enforcement issues, landlord tenant issues. Jeff Jadel, and Martha Volleman have been doing an excellent job coordinating the group....Thanks! Keep up the good work.

Landscaping teams: Jennifer Luedtke will be chairing this committee that will clean up and improve the fronts of buildings in the Bettys Ln / Theresa Te area free of cost to land owners who would want the service. Sherwin Williams, Janet House, a landscape architect, and many others are committing time and resources to this project...GO JENNY!!

STOP SIGN VIOLATIONS: Starting 3/17 at 7am the TEST Unit and WPD will be stopping motorists who violate the stop signs at Hammersley and Prairie Rd. Whitney Way/Raymond Rd. We will be handing out pamphlets as well as citations to better educate the public on the hazards of not stopping for the stop sign and pedestrians in the crosswalk.

ALTERNATIVES TO CAR SEAT CITATION:
Shari Faust of the Dean Foundation, Jennifer Zilavy from the City Attorneys Office and I have created a program to better educate people who do not routinely secure there children in a proper child safety seat. A violator can now have the option of paying the ticket, going to court, or signing up for a class that will teach them why it is important to secure children in moving vehicles. Offenders who take the course will be required to properly install a car seat at the end of the course...In light of the resent tragedies involving the deaths of children who were not restrained in a car we feel this is a good step in helping promote awareness...Wish us luck.

Search warrant:

Search Warrants were executed in the 1400 and 1300 blks of Theresa Ter. Monona PD and Verona PD. recovered over 40 stolen items relating to resent theft from auto cases that have been occurring in the city and county. I'm working on having the residents from both buildings evicted. You may recall that this is the same group that was connected to the fire bombing of a vehicle on Bettys Ln last Nov.

Patrol Operations: by Lt. Tony Peterson

Demands for police service continue to be high. Besides taking calls for service, WPD Patrol Officers have been responsible for a number of arrests that were the result of some very good police work!  Officer Mike Ott, with a supporting cast of many other WPD personnel, apprehended two individuals responsible for numerous thefts from autos and at least one burglary. Two handguns were recovered also. Nice Job Mike!

Shortly after the report of an armed robbery, Officer Lester Moore observed a suspicious vehicle in the 7800 block of Mineral Point Road.  Officer Moore believed the occupants of the vehicle matched the description of the robbery suspects. He eventually stopped the vehicle and observed evidence that led him to suspect the occupants had recently been involved in a crime. The subsequent investigation resulted in the clearing of multiple armed robberies and one bank robbery. Excellent Work Lester!

Officers Kathy Peterson, Pedro Ortega-Mendoza, Tim Patton and Sgt. Cindy Mierow were sent to the Schroeder Road area ref a suspicious vehicle. Officers searched the area and located the vehicle in the area and contacted the occupants. Their investigation resulted in four individuals being arrested for multiple thefts from vehicles.

Allied Neighborhood Officers Wixom and McPike have been extremely active and visible. They have made a substantial number of arrests for a variety of violations including trespass, drugs and battery. The Drug Task Force has supported those efforts and made a number of arrests, as well.

Hammersley Neighborhood Officer Fields has been very busy. Curt is in the planning stages of a number of community/child oriented initiatives that will greatly benefit his area when they are activated.

Our district In-service sessions have been completed. Our agenda for in-service included a Chief's update, participation by most of our West alders, 2003 expectations and objectives, goal setting, career development and problem solving initiatives.

Detectives: by Lt. Bill Housley

West District Detectives have been working collaboratively with other Detectives across the City on the many Robbery cases we have had.  The robbery Detectives and I are meeting every other week as a group to discuss progress and share information. Pursuant to Officer Lester Moore's investigation of the armed robbery (listed above), Detectives Sara Petzold, Jeff Twing, and Jerry Johnson conducted follow up investigations and linked these suspects to five west district armed robberies. The solved robberies occurred at the Check 'N Go, 512 Grand Canyon on 2/1/03, Check 'N Go, 512 Grand Canyon on 2/10/03, 1st Federal Bank, 7455 Mineral Point Rd., Klinke Cleaners, 728 S. Gammon Rd., and The Best Western, 650 Grand Canyon.

Det. Roger Baker is coordinating efforts on theft from auto cases.  He has some suspects and is trying to see how they may connect with other cases across the City.

All Detectives were trained on the use of our digital camera and the downloading of photos onto the computer.  Detective Twing is attending arson investigation training classes.

Items of interest:

On February 28th at approximately 6pm, Officers Tim Harder and Ken Mulry responded to the 7700 blk of Old Sauk Rd. ref. a suspicious vehicle. Contact was made with the occupants of the suspicious vehicle. Through their investigative efforts one occupant was eventually charged with possession of THC with intent to deliver and possession with intent to deliver within 1000 feet of a school. Another occupant was charged with possession of THC and of drug paraphernalia. Officers Harder and Mulry were assisted by, Sgt. Chuck Weiss, and Officers Sarah McLaughlin, Becky Overland, Jason McGee and Jeff McPike. Excellent work!

The Wexford Village Homes Neighborhood Association sent a letter to the Chief of Police commending the efforts of Officer Denise Armstrong who was their neighborhood liaison officer during 2002. The letter indicated that they wanted to "officially acknowledge Officer Denise Armstrong's dedication, commitment, and communication with the neighborhood". Nice job Denise! (As of January 15, 2003, Officer Armstrong has been in her new assignment as the department's crime stopper coordinator)

Wisconsin Highway information updates:
The WI DOT has informed us that the I-39/90 Web site is live to the public: http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/projects/d1/i39/index.htm. This is an additional resource available to help make your traveling easier through the great state of Wisconsin. 

For those of you who have problems receiving phone calls day and night from telemarketers, below is the web page to sign up for the State's "No Call" list... please feel free to forward to friends and family.
https://nocall.wisconsin.gov/web/registration.asp


Possible telephone scam:
We have received information from an out of state law enforcement agency alerting us to a new telephone scam. Apparently a person has been calling residents identifying himself as an AT&T Service Technician conducting a test on telephone lines. The caller then indicates that to complete the test the resident should touch 9, 0, the # sign and then hang up. If you receive a similar call, Do not press 9, 0, #, for anyone. This is a scam and if you do this you will enable the caller to place long distance phone calls billed to your home.

Conclusion
The information above is intended to provide you with information about what is happening in the West Police District. It's not all-inclusive and it does not list the specific addresses of crime nor does it provide a complete account of the police activities and arrests. I hope this information helps you to develop personal strategies and habits that will help keep you, your families and your property safe.

Please notify the police immediately to report suspicious activity in your neighborhood. The Madison Police Department welcomes your call and the opportunity to work with you to keep Madison safe.

Thank you,
Captain John Davenport    

Revised:  March 30, 2003