On November 11, there was a large Crime Watch Meeting held at the Grace Methodist Church, which I attended as your representative. Both First Assistant Police Chief Cato and Major John Lawton, who is in charge of Central Patrol, were theres well as most of the Neighborhood Patrol Of?icers. The meeting was very well‐attended by representatives of all the surrounding neighborhoods.
Residents expressed their concerns about crime in the neighborhoods. There was also an opportunity for the police to tell us what they are doing to alleviate the problems and what we can do to help. Chief Cato reported that 85 percent of crimes in the area are property crimes. Those include vehicle break‐ins, as well as house and garage break‐ins and theft of property such as bicycles, porch furniture and potted plants.
The best way to combat this kind of crime is prevention. To do that we need to share information and to report crime. Major Lawton emphasized the importance of calling 911 to report crime. Don’t be afraid that what you have to report is too minor. He wants to assure you that crime reports are prioritized so that emergencies and crimes needing priority attention will be responded to first. They target a 7‐minute response time for emergency calls, and a 12‐minute response time for priority calls. That is good to know when you have an emergency that really needs police attention. If the perpetrator is gone and you are in no danger, someone will probably take your report by phone unless you specifically request an officer to respond. So
property crimes or things considered minor won’t prevent more serious crimes from being answered.
But reports submitted by phone are still extremely important. Crime reports (including phone reports) are used to allocate resources. Resources deployed include not only bait cars and bait bicycles, but also plainclothes, undercover officers who monitor high crime activity areas and regular patrol officers. Once a year the crime reports are analyzed and patrols and resource are distributed among various areas based on the number of crimes reported. So please, don’t hesitate to call 911.