GLN Minutes: 6/17/2015

Attendance: 11 neighbors + 3 OPD officers

  1. Crime Reports
    • Crime is down in 2015, compared to recent years. The reasons are:
      • OPD identification and monitoring of high crime “hot spots,”
      • More cameras with readily available footage,
      • More neighbors more actively involved,
      • Generally making the neighborhood an uncomfortable place to be a bad guy.
    • The top residential deterrents are: 1-cameras; 2-alarms; 3-dogs.
    • Beat 14Y (Between Lakeshore Ave, Oakland Ave, I-580, Piedmont Border), Officer Bui.
      • There have been 8 area robberies YTD, compared to 31 in 2014, 59 in 2013.
        – Officer Bui recommends calling in people loitering, and to pay focused attention to your surroundings to reduce the potential element of surprise.
      • Auto burglaries have decreased over the past three years:
        74 in 2015 YTD;
        257 in 2014;
        230 in 2013.
      • Stolen vehicles have decreased, too:
        32 in 2015 YTD;
        77 in 2014;
        115 in 2013.
      • Home burglaries have also been reduced:
        14 in 2015 YTD;
        39 in 2014;
        46 in 2013.
      • There are now 8 – 10 officers on bicycles in the area during weekends.
    • Beat 16X (Between Lakeshore Ave, almost Park Blvd, I-580, Piedmont Border), Officer Madlangsakay (Maddy).
      • Officers have been on/off “protest mode” recently, which has been a priority.
      • There was some discussion of the need for updated OPD policy re: handling crowds with OPD officers on bicycles. Officers on bikes tend to blend into crowds more easily, and effectively deters ‘smash & go’ opportunity crimes.
  2. Other Crime/Qualify of Life Concerns
    • Safety checks are being done in the Lake Park lot (7 since last meeting), the Walker lot (13 since last meeting), and on Grand Avenue (10 since last meeting). Officers are paying special attention to educating drivers about potential burglary dangers; reminding folks to never leave anything in their cars – they are also leaving paper flyers with this information on windshields.
    • There are currently about 620 OPD officers, and that number is moving to 720 over the next year or so.
    • 27 vehicle stops have recently been made on Grand Avenue for traffic violations.
    • A decoy car is also being used to try and identify neighborhood burglars.
  3. Grand Ave Resurfacing
    • Although we were told that striping between Elwood and Piedmont was not going to be completed until a decision had been made on the potential ‘road diet,’ striping was mysteriously done.
    • Councilmember Guillen is hosting a community meeting on this on July 8,  at Barnett Hall behind Lakeshore Avenue Baptist Church (3534 Lakeshore Avenue) from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM.
  4. Misc
    • Ken Katz, Russell Hill, and Eric Hughes will be helping to raise funds for new trees on Grand Ave to replace about 15 dead/missing ones, contact Eric for information.
    • Issues with the online form for crime reporting will be taken to the City Council by GLN, unless we hear that something is being done to fix it in the meantime.
    • There was discussion of what the top 3 priorities for GLN should be this year, and tentatively they were identified as:
      1-Reducing crime in the parking lots;
      2-working with the City to fix the online crime reporting form;
      3-generally reducing auto crime throughout the area;
    • National night out is Tuesday, August 4th.