Evergreen Park residents told village officials Monday they want to be notified when crimes are happening in their community, in the wake of a shooting last week inside a Mariano’s grocery store.
After Evergreen Park Mayor Kelly Burke read commendations for police officers who had made arrests in several recent crimes, including a carjacking and attempted armed robbery at a gas station, several residents at Monday’s Village Board meeting asked why they do not get alerts when such crimes happen.
Terry Daley said she saw an officer in a patrol car on her block when she was walking her dog early June 20. She said she wondered what was going on, but when the officer merely wished her a good morning, she assumed there was no danger.
Later she learned the police were looking for a person near 93rd Street and Ridgeway Avenue who had driven away when an officer tried to pull him over. There was gunfire after the offender crashed the vehicle and ran, Burke said.
With the help of a canine unit, the police found the suspect, who had a prior arrest for aggravated battery to a police officer and unlawful use of a weapon, recovered his pistol and arrested him. There were no injuries or property damage, Burke said.
“My complaint is we are not being made aware of what’s going on,” even when suspects still are at large, Daley said.
She said she used to get alerts from the village, but has not received any texts or phone calls about emergencies or unusual situations for several years.
“I get ones Oak Lawn sends out,” she said.
Burke and police Chief Michael Saunders said sometimes officers are too busy responding to a crime to send out community alerts. Once a suspect is custody, they do not see the point in alerting residents.
“We are not going to put the message out after we make an apprehension,” Saunders said Monday.
“I’m out with the dog at 5 o’clock in the morning and as I’m coming back there is a police squad cruising down the middle of my block … with both windows down looking driveway to driveway,” Daley said.
The officer inside said, “Good morning,” to her, Daley said. “I think maybe a more appropriate message would have been, ‘you need to go home.'”
“At 5 o’clock in the morning, we are not going to wake everybody up,” Saunders said. “Unless it is really something horrendous that we don’t have under control or we feel would be a general problem.”
Daley said she thinks searching for somebody loose in the neighborhood with a gun warrants a community alert.
“It seems like a pretty big thing,” Daley said. The situation was reported at 3:34 a.m., she said
Burke explained when police are in the middle of responding and investigating an emergency or crime, “there may not be the time or there may not be the communication person available at 3 in the morning.”
“I wasn’t looking for it at 3:30, but I would think by an hour and a half later, if you haven’t apprehended the person, we should be notified,” Daley said.
Burke said she gets emergency alerts from the village, though she did not say she had received alerts about the crimes in June and July.
Perhaps the notification system has changed, Burke said, and Daley and other residents need to re-register.
Burke said the staff would look into what happened and suggested a village employee residents could contact to find out how to receive alerts.
One resident questioned whether the village was sending out alerts that she and others had not received, or whether no official alerts had been sent.
“I think the chief’s point is if everything is wrapped up and the person is in custody, there is no risk to public safety and sending the alert might not be appropriate,” Burke said.
Kathy Wiggins said she comes from a “Chicago police family,” so she is supportive of the police and did not come to the board meeting to criticize their work. But the village needs to be more transparent, she said.
“Someone needs to be assigned to inform concerned residents like me somehow,” Wiggins said.
She believes crime is increasing everywhere.
“We need to be assured that something is being done, that (the village has) a plan and that residents can feel safe because a lot of us right now don’t feel safe,” Wiggins said. “Within a very short amount of time, I’ve seen real crime happen.”
Wiggins said a suspected carjacker ran through her backyard and threatened her.
“That doesn’t mean I don’t trust I can pick up the phone and call 911 and they are there on the spot. But I walk my dog. I ride my bike,” Wiggins said, “so safety is a real issue right now.”
She suggested more police officers should be hired.
Village Trustee Mark Phelan said the village has ample officers, but maybe communication with the residents needs to improve.
One resident advised the board that all means of communication should be used, not just texts on cellphones, because not everybody uses technology. He suggested the village include instructions on how to sign up for alerts when it mails water bills.
Doyle Landry suggested the village hold mandatory safety workshops for businesses. If all the employees in the Mariano’s grocery store in Evergreen Park had known one of the employees had an order or protection against her ex-boyfriend, someone might have called the police when they saw him enter the store July 13, Landry said. Police might have responded and prevented the offender from fatally shooting the 21-year-old employee in a backroom, he said.
“This has been a great discussion,” Burke said. “We will take all this to heart.”
Kimberly Fornek is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
