BEAT 1431 CAPS
Meeting Minutes
November 4, 2004

The next meeting will be December 2nd, 2004 at the 14th District Police Station, 2150 N. California at 7:00 pm.

Officers Present: SGT Giambrone, PO Vasquez, PO Ortiz, PO Crawford, PO Muniz and Liz Rios of Community Policing

SECTION 1
1) 2133 Bingham has seen a decrease in activity and is reported to be in building court.
2) 2105 and 2034 Bingham were also reported to have a decrease in drug and gang activity.
3) Stave has seen an increase in drug and gang activity
4) A gang related shooting occured on October 26th at Chase School. Three arrests were made in connection with the shooting, two of the three were Cobra gang members.
5) A knifing incident occured at 2007 California at approximately 7:30pm on October 7th. The suspect is still at large, reportedly named Alex and of South American descent.
6) Two gun arrests were also made in Section 1
action: Bingham and Stave remain consistent areas of criminal activity which require proactive attention.

SECTION 2
1) McLean continues to be a major problem with drug, gang and gunfire activity.
2) Parking continues to be a problem during Congress Theater events. Concertgoers continue to park illegally aggravating residents.
3) Burglary occured at 2134 Maplewood on October 8th.
4) Attempted forced entries at 2132 N. Maplewood and 2153 N. Rockwell also occured, an arrest was made in connection to the 2153 N. Rockwell incident.
action:Residents should be mindful of recent burglaries and attempted entries in this section.

SECTION 3
1) Quenchers Bar at Fullerton and Western suffered property damage to the front entrance when a car was forced into the entry way. This accident was a result of more than one car drag racing Northbound on Western Avenue. Apparently, the cars involved in the drag race also bounced off several parked cars near Lyndale and Western, continuing to Fullerton where one of the cars hit a car travelling East on Fullerton, sending it into the Quenchers front entry after impact. Luckily there were no reported deaths.

SECTION 4
1) Campus cameras provided by Goethe Elementary School were adjusted to better capture activity in and around the school. Also, the Alderman's office has requested lighting improvements to the school campus.
2) There was a car jacking incident on the 2500 block of Belden October 1st.
3) Gang activity appeared to decrease during the month.
action: Gang activity and gun violence remains a consistent concern. Weekday late afternoon and early evenings, and weekend evenings seem to draw increased activity. Talman avenue apparently has several households fostering gang members, residents are strongly encouraged to call 911.

SECTION 5 & 6
1) Missala (corner "restaurant" at Fullerton and Rockwell) is nearing a year of reported illegal activity. Fighting was reported on the two nights/early mornings of October 22nd and 23rd. The latter incident the manager of the "restaurant" was seen fleeing to his vehicle despite police presence. Live music has also occurred which is in violation of it's license.
This property continues to be a nuisance for the neighbhorhood.
2) An individual of the name Salazaar, reportedly a former pimp, was seen in Section 5 on Rockwell just North of Fullerton on October 26th with another individual carrying hockey sticks. Residents familiar with this individual are concerned to see him back in this area.
3) The Cheerios gang members continue to be a recurring nuisance in Section 6, actively on the streets 5-6 days of the week seen frequently driving around Artesian and Altgeld and making drug sales.
4) Still no progress has been reported on the Derek Tate, Jr., murder on June 6, 2003 at Fullerton and Artesian. For the third month in a row, Area 5 officers were not present to provide their promised update on the case.
action: Missala Alderman and 14th District Commander to maintain pressure on Missala. Police need to control Cheerios gang activity in Section 6.


Recurring Problem Areas for BEAT 1431
1) Gang shooting and drug activity on Bingham and Stave in Section 1 remains a consistent problem
2) Section 2 and the 2400 block of McLean continues to be gang and drug infested.
3) Gang turf wars at Goethe School.
4) Residents should continue to call 911 and are encouraged to establish phone trees to increase the number of 911 calls.


General Announcements

A Hispanic male in his twenties has been reportedly seen just outside BEAT 1431 masquerading as a fire extinguisher inspector requesting entry into homes and businesses to inspect extinguishers and then charging $100. Please call 911 to report this individual should you encounter him.

Overall the gang activity in Beat 1431 seems to have diminished over the last month and police arrests were optimistically numerous. This is good news.

DISCLAIMER
Beat 1431 CAPs volunteers prepared these meeting minutes to the best of their ability.