WEST RIDGE — An increase in property crimes in the 50th Ward over the last few years is prompting a new neighborhood watch group.
At a citizen safety seminar Wednesday night, more than a dozen city workers, police, religious and community leaders announced to a packed room of residents initial plans for the launch of the West Rogers Park Community Watch — a partnership between local volunteers and the Rogers Park Police District to help curb crimes frequently occurring in the area such as burglaries and auto theft.
"That is the main motivation" for the safety group, Sgt. Shawn Sisk said. "So we can address those smaller issues so they don't turn into bigger ones. ...This is not about blaming, it's about learning from our past mistakes."
Rogers Park District Cmdr. Roberto Nieves said after analyzing data on the types of crimes being reported in the area his team found there were "numerous" incidents that led him to see the need for an additional crime prevention education and community safety group.
The district in the fall launched an Immediate Response Team through its community policing office to help residents more quickly respond to non-violent complaints.
Sisk said the officers in that group will be the liaisons between the district and residents in the new endeavor.
Among the most common types of crimes reported were trespassing, stealing or damaging vehicles, home burglary and other personal property crimes.
When officers asked the roughly 100 residents in attendance who had been the victim of a car theft or car break-in, at least half raised hands.
The majority of those break-ins were to unlocked cars, Sisk said, a problem police said is prevalent throughout the ward.
"We don't want this to be the criminals' favorite fishing hole," Sisk said.
Other common mistakes that inadvertently "invite" criminals to target the community are leaving spare keys in plain sight, keeping important or valuable property inside vehicles, leaving windows and doors unlocked and keeping keys in the ignition with the car unoccupied.
Once they know what they can get away with, criminals continue to commit crimes in the same areas, police said.
"This is only, and I stress only, going to work with a partnership between everybody in this room, between everyone in the West Rogers Park neighborhood," Sisk said.
Nieves agreed, adding that especially when it comes to property crimes criminals from outside the community tend to "test" a neighborhood to see how vulnerable it is before repeatedly targeting it, as Sisk said it appears is happening in West Ridge.
Richard Concaildi, a CAPS beat facilitator in West Ridge, said better "street smarts" and minor changes in habits — such as situational awareness and basic crime prevention — among residents would likely go a long way.
"It's almost impossible to change the behavior of a criminal," Nieves said. "We have to change. ... It begins at home and it begins with us."
The ultimate goal is to change the reputation of the neighborhood among those targeting it and make it be seen as more actively engaged and present when it comes to safety.
As part of the new neighborhood watch group, some volunteers will get bright yellow jackets emblazoned with the group's name and CAPS police logo "to represent a visible presence" in the community, Sisk said.
Citing Rogers Park as the birthplace of the CAPS system, Sisk said he hopes the Far North Side could also become a leader with the new group.
"This has a lot of potential," Sisk said. "Maybe we lead the way instead of follow."
More details and another meeting regarding the neighborhood watch group will be set in the coming weeks, police said.
