BEAT 1431 CAPS
Meeting Minutes
March 3rd, 2005
The next meeting is scheduled for April 7th, 2005, 7:00 pm at the 14th District Police Station, 2150 N. California.
Officers Present: SGT Giambrone (gangs), PO Trempe, PO Crawford, PO Jones, PO Rodriguez from community policing and others.
General Announcements
1) Dan Wood, Pastor of the 4th Congregational Church announced an upcoming "Town Hall Planning Meeting" at the church (2625 N. Talman) on Thursday, March 10th from 1-3pm or 6-8pm, refreshments will be provided. The meeting will address neighborhood violence and the importance of communicating with the youth of our community.
2) Congress Theater representatives Jason Raider and Eddie Carranza reinforced efforts of the theater to open it's doors to local community events and to work with the neighborhood to prevent problems during events. The Congress is also currently looking for businesses who are willing to lease parking spaces during events.
Jason Raider can be contacted via email at jraider2@aol.com or phone at 8470347-3293. Eddie Caranza can be reached at 773.486.6672. For more information you can visit http://www.congresstheater.com
SECTION 1
1) Assisstant Principal from Chase school announced that one of the Chase students has been physically beaten and threatened by the Spanish Lords gang. Parents of the students are concerned by the threats and are concerned with the rumors of the Spanish Lords trying to maintain more of a presence in the neighborhood.
2) The 2000 block of Stave St. continues to be active with criminal gang activity, particularly 2064 and 2044 Stave.
3) On Monday, February 14th, a man was arrested with unlawful possession of a fully automatic sub machine gun at 2600 W. Armitage. He had numerous past felons including car jacking and a warrant for arrest for escape and aggravated assault. The criminal was apparently living in the Cabrini Green housing projects.
4) A mugger was arrested after attempting to mug patrons of the currency exchange at Milwaukee and California. The criminal apparently entered the currency exchange and then left waiting immediately outside. He mugged a patron who called 911 and chased the mugger down in her car and proceeded to get into a fist fight with the mugger at Fullerton and Western. Police with an ambulance were at the scene and managed to sedate and arrest the criminal.
action: Police to follow up with Spanish Lord activity at Chase School and parents are strongly urged to call 911 (anonymity will be preserved) at the sight of any criminal gang activity. Stave st. remains a consistent area of reported criminal activity and requires continued police attention and calls to 911.
SECTION 2
1) At 7:45pm on Sunday, February 13th, 4 shots were reportedly fired at McLean and Campbell avenues.
2) The Martinez family residing at 2427 McLean continues to be a problem in this section (see minutes from 10/2004).
3) There are 2 open foundations filled with water with no fencing on the NE corner of Shakespeare and Maplewood that need to be fenced off for public safety (e.g. possibility of drowning for young children wandering too close).
action: Community policing is tasked with handling the fencing off of the open, water filled foundations at Shakespeare and Maplewood.
Police and residents to focus attention on continued gang activity on McLean.
SECTION 3 & 4
1) A group of Spanish Lords gang members were seen walking from Western and Fullerton to Campbell and Fullerton at 7pm the week of February 21st.
2) On Monday, February 28th, a burglary took place during the day at 2531 Medill. The burglars managed to get away with numerous possessions including identity and financial information of the home owners.
3) Police arrested a burglar associated with last month's burglary at 2509 Maplewood providing many names in conjunction with other area robberies.
4) Three incidences of gang intimidation were reported at Goethe Elementary School. The school and a few surrounding residences were also tagged with Latin King graffiti.
action:Residents are encouraged to stay vigilant and call 911 with any suspicious activity. Please keep an eye out for doors being ajar and report any questionable activity to 911. Parents of students be threatened by gang members should report the crime by calling 911 (anonymity will be preserved).
SECTION 5 & 6
1) The infamous Missala restaurant appears to be closed.
2) Resident reported that numerous garage breakins occurred over the last month in the 1500 block of North Rockwell. The cause of the breakins is unknown, however, according to the police, it is not uncommon for breakins to occur at properties known for past drug activity as the burglars may not be aware that the drug dealers no longer live at those addresses.
3) Aspira Inc of Illinois Mirta Ramirez Computer Science Charter School at 2435 N. Western Avenue continues to be a consistent gathering place for Spanish Lords gang members. There is currently more police attention on the premises at this school than at Goethe or Chase Elementary schools.
4) A teenager was arrested after tossing a .22 caliber hand gun into a yard and fleeing police from Aspira.
5) Unusually heavy parking ticketing occurred February 20th during the early morning from Rockwell to Artesian. Residents were surprised and aggravated since many felt they were wrongly ticketed.
6) Known neighborhood drug dealer Ivan Bermudez continues to be seen circling this section currently in a white Nissan.
7) Another former section resident, Ivan Gomez, was arrested after apparently pushing a person off a building.
8) Still no progress has been reported on the Derek Tate, Jr., murder on June 6, 2003 at Fullerton and Artesian. The progress of this case is apparently dependent upon witnesses who will not step forward to report what they saw.
action: Police to maintain attention on gangs and burglaries in this section.
Recurring Problem Areas for BEAT 1431
1) Gangs and drug activity in Section 1 remains a consistent problem
2) 2400 block of McLean continues to have car theft problems and harboring gang and drug activity.
3) Residents should continue to call 911 and are encouraged to establish phone trees to increase the number of 911 calls.
DISCLAIMER
Beat 1431 CAPs volunteers prepared these meeting minutes to the best of their ability.
