CANARYVILLE — Community leaders called a rally Friday night and encouraged dozens of neighborhood folks to be more vigilant and active in policing the area.
The rally — called “Operation Wake Up!” — followed on the heels of a summer stacked with crime ranging from a brutal stabbing at Taylor-Lauridsen Park to drive-by shootings, graffiti and gang-related loitering in front of abandoned buildings dotting the community's trouble spots.
“We need to continue to be vocal and active in our community, making sure that we’re calling the police when we see a crime,” said Ald. Patrick D. Thompson (11th). “We need to make sure we’re reaching out and working with the police department.”
Thompson called Canaryville “a great community” defined by generations of family history — but it’s important that crime is addressed to ensure that history continues, he said.
“We’re going to continue to have that for generations moving forward,” Thompson said, “but we can’t do it with the threats, with the terror that these gangbangers" bring.
Thompson called gang members “a nuisance to our community” and said, “we need to rid them."
Deering District Police Cmdr. Daniel Godsel took the podium next, telling the community some of the best beat officers in the city at patrolling their neighborhoods.
Godsel also said he recently finished the area's gang audit, sketching out gang patterns and the territories they claim.
But the idea of gang “territory” is "nonsense" to him.
“They don’t have territory," Godsel said. "They want to think they have territory. These are your communities, and they’re encroaching on it, and we’re going to do our best to get them the hell out of here.”
After Godsel finished his address, community members met with beat officers, Thompson and Godsel, exchanging phone numbers and sharing stories.
One man, who wished to remain anonymous out of fear of violence, told Godsel about the numerous drive-by shootings that happened on his block and what seemed like a poor response by police.
Godsel promised the concerns will be addressed and encouraged the man to meet his local beat officers and share his concerns.
While he appreciated the chance to meet the officers, the 40-year-old man later said the rally was nothing more than a “dog and pony show.”
Donald Haepp, a 61-year-old Canaryville native, felt differently.
He said the rally — as well as any CAPS meeting — is a good community function, because gang members often attend and “to see what’s going on.”
Often times, Haepp said, residents are talking about them.
The next neighborhood CAPS meeting for Beat 925 is scheduled for Aug. 19, running from 6-7 p.m. at St. Gabriel's Church, 4500 S. Wallace.
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