Friday, June 18, 2010

Less Loitering = Fewer Homicides?

On Wednesday and Thursday several news stories covered the dramatic drop in homicides in Maywood this year. The Maywood police chief, Tim Curry is giving major credits to “dealing aggressively with loitering”

Read Mary Mitchell's article at the Sun-Times

7 comments:

  1. I seem to remember their is a loitering law and it states as below but the cops do not enforce it.
    the early 1990s, the City of Chicago held several public hearings concerning the influence of gangs in Chicago neighborhoods. Community residents testified that gangs loitered in order to claim territory, recruit new members, as well as intimidate other residents and rival gangs.



    Consequently, on June 17, 1992, the City of Chicago passed the Chicago’s Gang Congregation Ordinance. This “gang loitering” ordinance basically enabled a police officer to order a group of two or
    more people to disperse from a public place if the police officer believed that one of these people was a criminal street gang member. Any person who disobeyed such orders could be jailed for up to six months and fined up to $500. On August 8, 1992, the Chicago Police Department promulgated General Order No. 92-4: a set of guidelines for enforcing the ordinance. During the three years the ordinance was enforced, 89,000 dispersal orders were issued and 42,000 individuals were arrested.

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  2. The 4500 block of Magnolia was a mess with loitering last night (anecdotally, the amount is way up from the past few years). 911 was called for some public drinking, sitting on the sidewalk and shouting, but when the cops show up, they merely cruise down the block at low speed, the crowd starts slowly walking from their spot and dispersing into the evening. Once the cops leave, they often quickly reconvene.

    I'm also not sure what you call a group of people walking down the block endlessly shouting "Kobe" at full volume at 11:30 PM.

    I don't care so much about the gatherings themselves (it doesn't feel intimidating to walk through it), but the shouting, laughing, bouncing of basketballs, and general volume of the chatter is completely ridiculous and utterly irritating for someone who wishes to sleep with their windows open at 10 PM, 11 PM, 12 AM, etc.

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  3. I believe a revised gang ordinance is on the books now, but is only selectively enforced in certain parts of the city (based on what the CPD determines are "hot spots" for gang activity). The original ordinance was only enforced for a period of time because it was eventually found to be unconstitutional by the US Supreme Court (City of Chicago v. Morales, 1999). These are tricky laws -- they can be too vague or they can over-reach and turn otherwise harmless behavior into criminal behavior.

    While I am not familiar enough with the current ordinance to say anything more substantive, I do hope the CPD in Uptown is making use of all the tools available, including the anti-loitering ordinance. The people of Maywood have set a great example.

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  4. I'm also not sure what you call a group of people walking down the block endlessly shouting "Kobe" at full volume at 11:30 PM.

    Rude Lakers fans.

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  5. So here is my question - There is a lot more loitering on the 4500 Block of Magnolia. What has changed? Have new buildings been constructed? Have new people moved in that replaced upstanding citizens? Have police reduced their Patrols? Have police been instructed to allow it?

    If I lived over there in a nice home and had to deal with that crap day in and day out, I would be mad as hell.

    Establishing higher community standards and living by them benefits EVERYONE whether you are a condo owner, renter, higher income, lower income, law enforcement officer, ems worker, child, or elderly person.

    The only two groups I see getting suffering here are domestic terrorists (i.e. gang members)who will need to find another place to go or change their behavior or our current alderman, who won't get reelected if things improve for all despite her attempts to tolerate utter crap in portions of her ward.

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  6. Stash - I do live right by the corner of 4500 Magnolia and I am madder than hell about what goes on there. Your exactly right! Day in and day out the scum bags sit on that corner and sell drugs. Not only that they sit in front of the convenient store and sell drugs in the parking lot. Right in front of the no loitering sign and across from the police camera. The police do NOTHING about this!! I spoke with the owner of the subway and he has called the cops a couple times but said the cops refuse to do anything about it. This hurts his business and the community. It just shows the level of what you can get away with in this neighborhood.

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  7. @ Stash:

    >> If I lived over there in a nice home and had to deal with that crap day in and day out, I would be mad as hell.

    I too am as mad as hell... and I'm sure I have the 911 call records to prove it. I also spend a lot of time outside; the other day I "loitered" in front of my building and the other two loiterers that were loitering there decided that they should head south and loiter elsewhere. There is only so much one can do by him/herself.

    >> So here is my question - There is a lot more loitering on the 4500 Block of Magnolia. What has changed? Have new buildings been constructed? Have new people moved in that replaced upstanding citizens? Have police reduced their Patrols? Have police been instructed to allow it?

    Based on my observations, here's what I think has changed:

    1) Most of these folks actually live on the 4400 block of Magnolia or elsewhere. When they get shoo'd away , most head south rather than into the 4540 building. My hunch is that more vigilant patrols of Sunnyside Mall coupled with the Kate's detective cars that park near the mall have forced these folks to find a new place to hang out.

    2) Loitering begets loitering. It becomes a habit. So, if you don't nip it in the bud, it'll become the de facto hang out spot where everyone can meet up at night. The crowds have grown over the summer (though this also has to do with warmer weather).

    3) More building management vigilance near Sunnyside Mall. I was told that there has been new management in at least one of the buildings over there, which has a more hard line policy on tenants. If they also restrict loitering in front of their building, this forces people to move elsewhere.

    What to do?

    1) Call 911. I was about to call last night but then a cop car came by and people started disbursing. I'd love to see our precinct have a car patrol each half hour in the evenings and break up loitering. But, this will have to be encouraged through CAPS meetings, etc.

    2) Get neighbors involved. This is where a GWNA block club revival would be quite useful. I hear that there is a resurrection movement in the works, but it seems slow going. They have a facebook page, but no info yet: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Graceland-Wilson-Neighbors-Association/116368811736124

    3) Put pressure on the management of the 4540 building to prevent people from hanging out in front of their building. See what can be done about similar prevention measures for the strip mall.

    Something needs to be done; I'd love to see the community on the 4400/4500 block get together to make it happen.

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