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By Maria Bappert
Special to Inside |
Flyers distributed to area residents and to businesses, as well as newspaper articles, invite all concerned citizens to attend their local police CAPS beat meeting. This article focuses on Beat 1911, the boundaries of which are from Montrose to Lawrence avenues and from Damen Avenue to the Chicago River. This falls within the 19th Police District boundaries, which are from Fullerton to Lawrence avenues, and from Chicago Ave. to the Chicago River. Beat 1911 meetings are held every fourth Tuesday of the month from 7-8 p.m. Meeting locations have varied, but currently they take place on the fifth floor of Vencor Chicago North Hospital, 2544 W. Montrose Ave., where one could observe a spectacular sunset the last couple of occasions. Meetings are usually no longer than an hour, allowing the police officers to get back on the street and do their job. |
 Pictured at the Beat 1911 CAPS meeting Sept. 25 are, from left, top row: Officer George Corso; Harriet O’Donnell, citizen beat facilitator; Jake Tipre, CAPS delegate agency organizer funded by a CAPS grant to the Ravenswood Community Council; Officers Robin Ratledge and Jim Corcoran. Bottom row: Sgt. Groth, and Officers Joann Maney and Arcenio Cruz. |
Beat 1911 meetings are very well organized, and agendas are made available to everyone who attends. Various community alert flyers can be taken home. Beat meetings allow area residents to meet face to face with the police officers assigned to their community to share information, to identify problems and to set the crime fighting priorities for the neighborhood. An Information Collection for Automated Mapping (ICAM) report is also distributed and is reviewed by one of the officers. These reports list all reported crimes which have taken place in a one-month period and compare the figures to the same period of the previous year. The officers give an analysis of criminal activities, community alerts, crime fighting techniques, criminal and arrest statistics, court cases, and programs and resources available to address the specific needs of the area. At the Beat 1911 meeting on Sept. 25, six officers and over 20 area residents were present. Old business items were reviewed, and area residents were then asked about any new problems, among which were the homeless at Welles Park, an area sports bar where patrons leaving the bar in the early morning caused disturbances, an unguarded construction site, suspicious comings and goings at another location, etc. |
 Participating in the Beat 1911 CAPS meeting were, top row: Archa Chadha, Melissa Jones, and Dr. Malte Schutz. Bottom row: Eva Vitale, Jerry Fett and Kermit Berg. |
At the conclusion of every beat meeting, a car club and a bicycle lock are raffled off. These were purchased with funds from a grant to the 19th District from Allstate Insurance. This time, the winners were Eva Vitale and Thelma Reykjalin. All area residents are urged to attend their local CAPS beat meetings. This information is published in community newspapers and can also be obtained by calling 311. |
 Among the citizens at the Beat 1911 CAPS meeting were,top row: Rein Jaagund; Sheila Rattinger, 47th Ward representative; Heddie Brader; and Erin Geary. Bottom row: Carole Vitale; Thelma Reykjalin, Lorraine Miller; and Emil Victory. |
All material in this publication Copyright 2001 Inside Publications. Any reproduction or transmission of content herein is forbidden without the expressed consent of the publisher. |
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