Madison West Police District Newsletter-January 2002

WHAT EFFECT HAS THE GROWTH HAD ON CALLS FOR POLICE SERVICES, AND REPORTS OF CRIME AND DISORDER?

From a public safety perspective, one relatively accurate way of tracking the impact of growth and changes in our community is to look at the number and types of incidents reported to police.  Looking at the case numbered incidents for activity occurring within the West District for the years 1997 through 2001 to gives some perspective.  The number of incidents reported to the West District only over that time period looked like this: 
    1997 - 26,312
    1998 - 27,502
    1999 - 29,106
    2000 - 30,555
    2001 - 30,747
   
Are there incident types which have shown larger increases than others?  Yes, and I am sad to say that many of the those incident types are ones which have dramatic impacts on individual citizens' feelings of safety and security, in their homes and in their neighborhoods.  Some examples include:  Battery and aggrevated battery, both domestic related interpersonal violence as well as acquaintance and stranger; financial crimes such as fraud and forgery; theft and criminal damage to property have shown dramatic increases as have residential burglary and stolen autos.  The number of traffic accidents fluctuates, with the number of hit and run accidents continuing to rise.  The ever increasing number of incidents involving individuals, both children and adults, with mental health and substance abuse issues taxes the time and energy of the beat officers as never before. 

If you have specific questions about some of this information, please email it to me and I will do the best I can to answer your questions.   

THE TRAFFIC REPORT:  

Speeding and other dangerous driving  practices are high on many neighborhood association and individual's list of public safety concerns.  The following a summary of the enforcement update I am now receiving regularily from the Traffic Enforcement Safety Team.  Many enforcement sites are selected due to ongoing citizen complaints regarding the excessive speed with which cars travel.  On February 7, between 7:25a.m. and 8:30 a.m. Officers issued seventeen (17) citations for Speeding in a School Zone in the 1700 block of S. Whitney Way adjacent to Orchard Ridge Elementary School.  The SPEED LIMIT IN THIS SCHOOL ZONE is 20 mph.  Ticketed speeders were travelling between 31 and 39 mph.  That same day in a two hour period thirty (30) speeders were ticketed in the 10 Blk. of S. Midvale, a 30 mph zone.   Of those 30 speeders, 12 of those were travelling between 45 and 50 mph. on this very busy city street. 

Some other locations frequented by chronic speeders where citations have been issued over the past couple of weeks, by members of the TEST include;  Manchester Road,  S. Segoe Rd.,  S. Whitney Way, Odana Rd.,
Maple Grove Rd., Junction Rd., Inner Drive, Chapel Hill, Piping Rock Rd., McKenna Blvd. Watts Rd., Mineral Point Rd., Rosa Rd., Hwy M at Midtown Rd., and the big loser was the 5900 block of Raymond Rd where 23 speeding citations were issued between January 21st and February 1.  Other locations were investigated by TEST where either warnings were issued or no violations found.  

West District Beat Officers also routinely enforce speeding and other hazardous violations in chronic complaint areas as time permits.  If you have a traffic/speeding complaint you would like to bring to our attention, you can do so by calling the speeders hot line at 266-4624, or on Madison's westside you can call our general to give us some details about time of day, etc.
Email also works for those complaints.

WHEN RETAIL THEFT BECOMES BURGLARY.  

Around 1 a.m. on the morning of the 7th of February perpetrators forcibly entered the Big and Tall shop at the corner of Whitney Way and Odana Rd.  Witnesses provided vital information which enabled Sgt David Compton to locate the van used by the suspect.  After a short vehicle pursuit and a foot chase,  Sgt. Compton with the assistance of Officers Dan Nale and Traci Jokala was able to take the suspect into custody.  In the van the officers located the proceeds of the burglary.  Recovered was thousands of dollars worth of mens clothing, as well as electronic equipment believed to have been taken in a burglary in the City of Monona. 

BURGLARY SUSPECT CAUGHT RED HANDED.  

Just before 6 p.m. on February 8, a resident of the Maple-Prairie neighborhood off of McKee Rd. found some youths in his garage.  The resident was able to detain one of the burglars, and hold him until MPD arrived to take him into custody.  Also recovered was the large athletic bag the young men brought with them to put their loot in (most often beer and liquor which seem to be the most popular targets).  The other suspects made their get away, but the crime remains under investigation.  This incident was one of the latest in a rash of such crimes which have been occurring around the City.

Some of the other, harder hit neighborhoods that border the Old Sauk Road area have recently met with Alders Skidmore and Holtzman along with P.O.Ken Mulry, and Lts. Peterson and Housley, to discuss this ongoing problem and what residents can do to make capture of the perpetrators happen.  As a follow up to one of those meetings, Lt. Peterson took a drive down a few streets in two of the harder hit neighborhoods in early afternoon, and found no less than 10 garage doors standing open.  He was able to contact most of the residents to remind them of the importance reducing the opportunity for crime to make them a victim.   

WE ARE ALWAYS HAPPY TO MAKE OURSELVES AVAILABLE, to meet with neighborhood associations or groups of residents to work on any issue that is police related and is having an impact on the safety and security of westside residents or businesses.  Our general number is 288-6176.

IF THE DEAL SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE - YOU CAN BET THAT IT IS:  Once again we are receiving reports of men trying to spell what they describe as expensive sound equipment from the back of a dark blue or black van.  The men claim they have leftover equipment from an installation job, and are willing to pass along the savings to people on the street for a fraction of what the equipment cost the customer, or a comperable fable.  The deal must be quite a steal, because they never want to hang around until the police get there. 

SENSELESS ACTS VIOLENCE AND DAMAGE:  

Several windows were shattered at homes and businesses in the N. Gammon Rd. area, with one resident reporting a full beer can being thrown thru the window.  A landlord reported thousands of dollars of damage to his rental property in the Hoyt Park area.  After beginning eviction proceedings against the tenant, he came to the home to find it totally trashed.  Extensive damage to plumbing, drywall, appliances, and cabinetry will cost thousands to repair, and make the residence uninhabitable until repairs have been made, and walls rebuilt.  Off. David Wixom arrested the teenaged sons of the former tenant for Criminal Damage to Property and confiscated the baseball bats and machetes used in the commission of the crime. 

WHEN IT COMES TO JOKES ABOUT KIDS BEING SHOT, WE HAVE NO SENSE OF HUMOR:  

A 12 year old who is already well known to WPD officers was referred to the D.A.'s office for charging, after calling 9-1-1 from a payphone at Meadowood Shopping Center and telling the dispatcher "a kid has been shot".  Off. Erv Marks, who was very close to the scene when the call came in, located witnesses and shortly thereafter located the caller.  Because of the serious nature of the reported incident,  3 MPD Officers responded in emergency mode, as well as MFD Engine #7 and a MFD Paramedic crew.  

A LIGHTER NOTE TO LEAVE YOU WITH:  

When Officers Krista Stuber and Mark Allen chose to work in the Wild, West District this year, I doubt either of them thought it would include a round up.  Offs. Stuber and Allen along with Off. Paul Daily were dispatched to the area of Raymond Rd. near Channel 3 TV to investigate a report of horses in the roadway.  The first officer on the scene found several horses on Raymond Rd. and another in the roadway on Gammon Rd.  The horses had somehow gotten loose from the Park Haven Farms on Gammon Rd. and were wandering in the roadways.  With the assistance of an Animal Control Officer and some neighbors of Park Haven Farms, all of the horses were safely returned to the fenced in pasture from whence they had escaped. 
    
These are just a small sampling of what has been happening in the West Police District over the last couple of weeks.   If you know of anyone else who would like to be added to the electronic newsletter list, please forward their e mail address to me.