Seward Community Policing Plan Meeting
Uploaded by
sewardpSeward Community Policing Plan Meeting
Uploaded by
sewardpSNG Crime and Safety Committee
Monday, December 13, 2010
Matthews Center
Present: Kathy Sikora (chair), Bob Hain, Dick Westby, Joey Brochin, June Prange, Carolyn Schurr,
Suzanne Weinstein, Pam McConville, Paul Casperson, Shun Tillman (CCP/Safe), Diann Anders(scribe,
SNG Board)
The minutes of the September 2010 meeting were approved as written.
The committee began working on the 2011 Community Policing Plan. Questions were raised about why
the police department recognizes only 6 organized blocks in Seward. The neighborhood had 24 registered
NNO events, and SNG has a list of over 40 block contacts. One of the strategies could be to work on ways
to connect the Police Dept. with organized blocks that currently are not recognized as official block clubs.
Shun Tillman sees block-club leader training as essential for "block club" status. Shun's block-contact list
can be accessed by other members of the department. He will investigate why the department listed only 6
block clubs. The group felt it is important that the Police Dept.'s list of block contacts includes those
people on the neighborhood's list.
As another part of supporting and expanding our block clubs, we also could host a Block Leader training
event.
A major problem facing the neighborhood is unemployed young Somali men. Perhaps we could request
that the police provide Seward with some access to police resources (officers / liaisons) who understand the
East African culture and languages.
Another area of concern is providing police patrols on Franklin Avenue. Shun suggested keeping the
targeted enforcement area of Franklin Avenue between the LRT stations and 26th Avenue. He notes that
this area is based on frequency of calls / need for patrol. It is important that we let the neighborhood know
that it is important, then, to call 911 with problems in other areas.
One of the requests from the November 23rd special meeting was getting a beat cop in Seward. Dick
Westby felt that the business community should be included in any effort to get a beat cop. One suggestion
is to ask the SNG Board, perhaps in conjunction with SCCA, to invite Commander Gerald to come and
discuss the effectiveness of beat cops in addressing the problems Seward is experiencing, whether securing
a beat cop for Franklin Avenue is really possible, and whether other policing strategies might be effective.
Another issue was improving non-electronic communication. Since the demise of the Profile,
communication with new residents who may not know where to look on-line for information that is
available or residents who do not use electronic media has been minimal. Discussion centered on ways we
could get some valuable initial information to such groups. Suggestions included a neighborhood-wide
mailing of organizational and contact information, a neighborhood flyer-ing of such information, continued
efforts to get a Seward-wide SNG quarterly newsletter created and distributed, in which C&S items of
interest/information could be included.
The November 23rd meeting also demonstrated a lot of interest in a Stroll Patrol. The suggestion was
made to find the leadership needed for restarting the Stroll Patrol. We need one or two individuals to lead
this effort and find volunteers. It additionally was suggested that we get these leaders soon so they can plan
for a mid-April start-up.
In a report on the Seward Longfellow Restorative Justice Project, Joey reported that the Adult Circle was
making itself available to crime victims. There is a teen circle at Longfellow and one at Matthews, with a
third teen circle starting at the Towers. The program now gets youth referrals directly from the Police Dept.
rather than from Operation De Novo.
In creating the Community Policing Plan in 2009 (for 2010), the Committee had asked for more
involvement with Police and community youth, envisioning something along the lines of after-school
interaction via sports, for example. This was changed to involvement by Shun in Restorative Justice
programs, where he helps as a trained conference facilitator, assists in tracking recidivism rates of youth
completing the program (very low) and helps in solving issues before RJ interaction is needed. This is a
good project, but we would like to continue to investigate getting more interaction with youth who may not
yet be “in trouble”.
The group wanted to investigate the possibility of getting an intern to help with crime-and-safety projects,
particularly related to block club rejuvenation. It was suggested that the Board be made aware of our desire
to have an intern and that efforts be made to move forward on this issue.
Shun reported that there have been no new robberies on the Franklin corridor. The Fourth Sector actually
experienced no burglaries last week.
The next meeting of the Crime and Safety Committee will be Monday, January 10 at 7 pm (Matthews
Center). On the agenda will be election of a chair for 2011 and finalization of the Community Policing
Plan.
