BEAT 1431 CAPS
Meeting Minutes
April 3rd, 2008

The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, May 1st, 2008 at 7:00 pm at the 14th District Police Station, 2150 N. California.

Officers Present: PO Sleeba, PO Delaney, PO Deb Augustyn (14th District CAPS Office), PO Crawford, PO Cruz, PO Angello, PO Komo, SGT Giambrone, Liz Rios (14th District CAPS organizer),

Number of Beat 1431 residents present: 26

Go directly to the following sections:
General Announcements
CLEARMap
Court Advocacy
Beat 1431 Section Reports

General Announcements
Longtime 1431 Beat officer Ken Trempe recently suffered a heart attack. He is recovering at Resurrection Hospital and will be off at least for the next 3 - 4 months. CAPS wishes him a quick and full recovery!

Sgt Giambrone praised the work of the police and detectives for resolving the Derek Tate Jr. murder outside Tile Outlet in 2003. Antolino Phillips, age 28, from the 4800 North Hamlin Avenue and Alexis Medina, age 25, from the 2400 block of North Harding Avenue were charged in the murder. The Chicago Tribune recently ran the following short report on the arrests: Bails of $1 million and $2 million are set in killing over hallucinogenic mushrooms

Giambrone also praised an important arrest and gun retrieval from a juvenile delinquent member of the Spanish Lords gang. A resident called 911 after seeing the gang member place a gun under a cinder block by a garage on the 2500 block of West Medill, just East of Goethe Elementary School. The resident also gave a detailed description of the gang member and the police were able to arrest him and link him to the gun. This is a felony arrest.
A week later, the police stopped a vehicle at Armitage and Damen containing several Spanish Lords gang members en route to Chruchill Park (the latest gang meeting hangout). As they were jumping out of the car, one of the gang members guns went off accidentally, fortunately no one was injured. Police were able to get another gun arrest against this gang.

SGT Giambrone highlighted the fact that there were no aggravated assaults or aggravated burglaries over the month, and that there were about 25 arrests total on our Beat. For full crime stats for the month of March review the CLEARMap report below.

1431 Beat Facilitator, Jim Rhodes, reported on a recent NYTimes article reporting catalytic converter thefts in Chicago. Apparently, catalytic converters contain traces of the precious metal, platinum, and thieves have been cutting out the device in parked cars in the city. According to the NYTimes article. "The catalytic converter is made with trace amounts of platinum, palladium and rhodium, which speed chemical reactions and help clean emissions at very high temperatures. Selling stolen converters to scrap yards or recyclers, a thief can net a couple of hundred dollars apiece."
SGT Giambrone confirmed what the article reported. He also added that Jeeps and SUVs are easier targets for this kind of theft due to their higher ground clearance. If the converter is removed, the exhaust system is likely to be dangling to the ground, making driving very dangerous.
What is a catalytic converter? According to howstuffworks.com: "The job of the catalytic converter is to convert harmful pollutants into less harmful emissions before they ever leave the car's exhaust system." See full entry here.

CLEARMap (formerly Citizen ICAM)
From March 1st - 30th (March 31st data was not available at the time of this report), according to CLEARMap, Beat 1431 suffered 72 crimes, an increase of 10 from last month (62):
- 6 BURGLARY *
- 2 DRUG ABUSE VIOLATIONS
- 2 FORGERY AND COUNTERFEITING
- 3 FRAUD
- 25 LARCENY THEFT *
- 2 MISCELLANEOUS NON-INDEX OFFENSES
- 6 MOTOR VEHICLE THEFT *
- 1 PROSTITUTION
- 2 ROBBERY
- 3 SIMPLE ASSAULT
- 12 SIMPLE BATTERY
- 9 VANDALISM
- 1 WEAPONS VIOLATION

* indicates index crimes (most serious offenses)

Click here to view table of all reported crimes (new window)

Court Advocacy Volunteers Needed
PO Deb Augustyn is looking for volunteers who are available for a couple hours for one afternoon (usually starting at 1:30pm), one day a month to be Court Advocates. There are recent cases in other beats that need our help. Advocates in the neighborhoods in which the crimes were committed are afraid to appear in court fearing retribution from the criminals. Therefore, advocates are needed from other beats (including ours) to help make a strong court appearance against these criminals.

Court Advocacy Report
There was no report for this period.

Beat 1431 Section Reports
SECTION 1 (Borders: California, Milwaukee, Armitage)
1) Car outside 2034 Bingham had it's windows smashed. There is a gang member who resides at this address.
2) Graffiti was reported in the area on St. Helen, and the Family Dollar, some gang related tagging, some not.
3) Vagrants reportedly broke into the rear of the boarded up property at 2117 N. Point. Jerry Gabrielatos from Alderman Flores' office will follow up with the owner to take care of this problem.
4) A female juvenile delinquent residing on Bingham who had a warrant for graffiti was arrested and is now in a detention center.
5) A male graffiti artist under the name of "Caballero" was arrested in this section.
action: Residents should continue to call 911 for any emergency or crime in this section. They are also encouraged to call 311 for graffiti.

SECTION 2 (Borders: Rockwell, Lyndale, Western, Milwaukee)
1) There is a house at 2417 W. McLean that has been vacant for approximately a year is currently being used by vagrant drug users and dealers. These vagrants have been seen squatting in the property and coming and going from the rear and side entrances.
The resident was encouraged to report this to Chicago city services 311 which can be done online (see available 311 city services online)
Meanwhile PO Deb Augustyn and Jerry Gabrielatos from Flores' office will follow up on this vacant property.

SECTION 3 (Borders: Rockwell, Fullerton, Western, Lyndale)
1) Juvenile delinquent Spanish Lords gang member was arrested with a gun on 2500 block of West Medill (see general announcements above)
action: Residents should continue to call 911 for any emergency or crime in this section including gang activity.

SECTION 4 (Borders: California, Fullerton, Rockwell, Milwaukee)
1) Easter Sunday, March 23rd, between 5pm and 9:30pm, Spanish Lords graffiti vandalized a garage at Lyndale and Talman.
2) Monday evening, March 31st 3-5 gun shots were heard at approximately 9pm near Goethe Elementary School. Police were called, and several squad cars responded quickly. Police were seen pulling over and arresting a young male and taking his car away in the diagonal parking of Goethe Elementary between Belden and Medill. SGT Giambrone did not have information on this incident.
3) Potential gang activity was reported at 2630 W. Belden over the course of the month. Alderman Flores' office will follow up on property.
action: Residents are strongly urged to call 911 to report gang activity and 311 for graffiti

SECTION 5 (Borders: California, Logan Boulevard, Rockwell, Fullerton)
1) The former Bolzano's restaurant property is undergoing new renovations, which is great news as this building has been vacant and vandalized for a few years now. Rumors are that this location will be host to a Latin and Asian fusion restaurant.

SECTION 6 (Borders: Rockwell, Logan Boulevard, Western, Fullerton)
1) A resident reported that a couple Black males were seen selling drugs in the alley between Campbell and Artesian, right off of Altgeld. There was no date or time reported for this incident.
2) 2 males, and 2 females, 2608 W. Fullerton, at "4 Aces" were arrested for cannabis and cocaine possession.
action: Residents are strongly urged to call 911 to report gang activity and 311 for graffiti

Recurring Problem Areas for BEAT 1431
1) Gang activity, drug sales, vandalism and violence on Bingham, Stave and Francis Pl.
2) Gang graffiti
3) Gang loitering and recruiting
4) Gang weapons violence

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