August 2, 2002

by Ellen Schwartz-Madison Police Department

The Property Crime Report:

Over the past six weeks, 40 residential burglaries have been reported
within the confines of the West Police District.  Hardest hit
neighborhoods include;  Parkwood Hills, Faircrest, Nakoma, and
Highpoint.  Homes located adjacent to heavily wooded areas in the
Parkwood Hills and Faircrest Neighborhoods were the targets of daytime
burglars who took smaller electronics, jewelry and video equipment. Once
again entries to open or unlocked garages accounted for a significant
number of burglaries, with alcohol the identified target.  Apartment
buildings in the Schroeder Rd as well as Watts Rd areas reported
breakins to storage lockers.

During the same time period, over 120 criminal damage to property
incidents were reported.  Most common among these incidents were the
breaking of windows in both autos and homes, keying of autos in
driveways and parking lots, egging of autos and homes, and the damaging
of curbside mailboxes.  The neighborhoods where the majority of these
senseless acts occurred include; Nakoma, Faircrest, Parkwood Hills,
Greentree, Walnut Grove, Orchard Ridge, Meadowood, and the Sauk
Creek/Wexford areas.  Sadly there was at least one resident in almost
all of these neighborhoods who was targeted multiple times.  If you live
in a neighborhood where a private swim club is please keep your eyes and
ears open for late night activity.  Three private swim clubs have
recently experienced damage as a result of unauthorized individuals
gaining access during the hours of darkness, damaging equipment,
trashing the pool side areas and leaving a huge mess to be cleaned up.
At least one private home owner in the Sauk/Gammon area experienced
similar vandalism at her backyard pool.  Speculation is that underaged
individuals are breaking in to hold drinking parties. 

Turn your tunes down and take your foot off the gas! 

(Hang up your phone while you're at it.)  On July 11th from 6p-8p, in response to
complaints of chronic speeding, aggrevated by excessively loud stereos
in the cars, West District Officers along with Traffic Enforcement
Safety Team members ran a combination speed and noise enforcement
effort.  During the two hours the operation ran, 15 speeders were cited.
 3 of those speeders were also given citations for having their stereos
too loud.  Now, this is not something that will happen every time a
radar team goes out.  This was as a result of a very persistent area
resident who has been so bothered by the loud, booming music that she
kept a log of the times of the day that the activity was most prevalent,
and Lt. Peterson used this information to pinpoint a block of time which
could make the most efficient use of the team's presence. 

Some other streets that made the chronic speed complaint list these
past weeks include:  1000 blk of Saybrook, 800 S. Midvale Blvd., 4100
Mineral Point Rd., 400 block of Glenway, S. Highpoint Rd., Junction Rd.,
5900 Barton, 5000 Raymond Rd. and 2900 Maple Grove.  Lots of other
streets have had speed enforcement run on them, but the ones mentioned
are some with significant numbers of violators cited.

July 4th at Elver Park.  

July 4th at Elver was an enjoyable and safe
event this year.  Lt. Tony Peterson organized and executed the police
staffing for the event, both inside and outside the park.  This year we
added traffic direction at S. Whitney and Hammersley Rd. to the after
event plan, and added Park Ridge/Park Edge to the list of streets with
parking restricted to one side of the street.  Traffic movement out of
the area after the event went faster than past years.  Officers on foot,
bicycles and in squad cars patroled the neighborhoods adjacent to Elver
Park before, during and after the event.  Reports of incidents of a
significant nature, such as fights, damaged property, reckless driving
and fireworks were at a minimum this year.  Our compliments to the event
organizer and sponsors on a very nice, family event.  Our compliments,
and those of the Park Ridge Neighborhood Association, to the MPD
personnel who staffed the celebration.

Opera in the Park.  

Speaking of really nice, family events, the Opera
in the Park, held at Garner Park on July 20th was a success.  While it
did not draw quite the crowd the Madison Opera was originally expecting,
Lt. Peterson estimated the extremely well behaved crowd at about 2,500.
Hopefully, it will continue to grow in the years to come.

Search warrant in Meadowood.  

Neighbors were surprised and curious to
hear the police were at a home on a very quiet street in their
neighborhood executing a drug search warrant.  The single family home on
Westbrook Lane was one of three residences where the Dane County
Narcotics and Gang Task Force executed search and arrest warrants as
part of a long term investigation.  The owner of the home was one of
nine individuals arrested on charges related to trafficing in cocaine.
The other two residences were located outside of the City. 

Who says there's never a cop around when you need one?  

In response to reports of possible criminal activity in the park, Officers Kathy
Peterson and Jill Roberts were doing some foot patrol in Westmoreland
Park,. early in the morning of the 19th of July.  They heard a crash
from the direction of 4000 Tokay Blvd.  Off. Roberts drove her squad to
the location, and Off. Peterson walked toward the crash sight, keeping
her eye out for occupants fleeing the scene on foot.  She intercepted
the 23 year old passenger of the vehicle as he attempted to leave the
site of the crash via the sidewalk.  Investigation revealed that the 20
year old driver had lost control of his vehicle as he was traveling
westbound on Tokay Blvd, left the roadway after striking a parked car.
The vehicle finally stopped when it crashed into a house in the 4000
block.  High speeds and alcohol consumption contibuted entirely to the
crash.  The operator of the car was arrested for drunk driving.  No
serious injuries resulted. 

What could have been a weather related tragedy.  

Off. Andreya Coutts responded to the Midvale Blvd area on July 17th when a relative of a 74
year old woman became concerned when the woman failed to return from her
grocery shopping trip.  The woman had left the house around 9 a.m. with
her wagon, in route to an area grocery store.  The woman had been
experiencing some confusion of late, and her relative was worried that
she had gotten lost.  The temperatures were around 90 degrees that day,
which increased the concern for her well being.  The woman was located
by Officer Melanie Hampton, in the 6200 block of Schroeder Rd. when an
alert and concerned citizen called to report an elderly woman wandering
in the area.  The woman had traveled some distance that day, and was
still pulling her wagon.  She was provided with water in the air
conditioned comfort of Off. Hampton's squad car and appeared none the
worse for her travels.  She and her wagon were returned home, and her
relative given appropriate referrals for support and assistance in
dealing with age related illnesses. 

The Neighborhood Walk and Watch.  

What does a neighborhood association
do when they feel there are things going on in their neighborhood that
are having a negative impact on their overall feeling of safety and
enjoyment of their homes?   This is what the Park Ridge Neighborhood did
when they started seeing large groups of unsupervised children throwing
rocks, trespassing, and damaging property; when cars were driving
recklessly on their streets; noise disturbances, music and arguing were
making them feel uneasy.  In addition to calling the police when it is
something bit, they get together in the evenings and walk around the
neighborhood, talking to each other and getting to know some of their
other neighbors.  Almost every night in twos or threes, a core group of
neighborhood people walk and watch.  The neighborhood, located just off
of S. Gammon Rd., near Elver Park is a mixture of condominiums, and
duplex and tri plex units, both owner occupied and rentals.  It is a
diverse neighborhood, with an active neighborhood association.  The
association board is made up of both home owners and renters, and
reflects the diversity of the area.  While there is a ways to go yet,
the high visibility of committed area residents has had a positive
impact on activities in the neighborhood and residents' feeling of
safety.  Sometimes all it takes to curb bad behavior is knowing it is
not going unnoticed.    Creating a comfort zone for the many by making
it uncomfortable for the few. 

Road R.A.V.E.  

The second of three, Traffic Enforcement Safety Team
sponsored road Reducing Alcohol Violatons through Education, was held on
Saturday July 27 at West Towne Mall and drew a crowd of over 200.  The
events are aimed at 16-25 year olds who make up 30% of Drunk Driving
arrests in Dane County, and feature educations displays and seminars,
games and activities, fatal vision goggles, and of course free food and
drink.  If you missed this one, you still have a chance to participate
in the August 17th one to be held at East Towne Mall.  If you would like
more information, contact Off. Andy Slawek at
www.aslawek@ci.madison.wi.us

Preventing child abuse and neglect, what can you do?  

Prevent Child Abuse Wisconsin has recently announced a new child abuse prevention
resource, Partners in Prevention Directory of Child Abuse Prevention
Programs is now available in both print and online forms.  The directory
was created to assist citizens across the state in becoming more aware
of and better able to access local prevention resources.  To view the
directory on line, go to www.preventchildabusewi.org and click on
"resources" the "the Child Abuse Prevention Directory".       

Be part of the solution.  

Too often when I talk about activities in
City Parks it is about underaged drinking parties and criminal damage to
property.  Those are continuing issues that I encourage all residents
who live near parks where these things occur to take note of and report
to police on.  However today I wanted to mention an opportunity to do
something really positive for one of Madison's most beautiful
park/conservancies.  Second Saturday at Owen Conservancy is in need of
volunteers to help with prairie restoration.  The Second Saturday of
August is August 10th from 9 a.m. - noon.

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