TXT2TIP program

TXT2TIP is  a program from the Chicago Police Department that allows citizens to report crime to the police by sending a text message from their cellular phones.  Click on the pages below for larger versions.  Follow this link for more information on the Chicago Police Department website.

The CHICAGO Plan

The CHICAGO Plan is a Chicago Police Department initiative that works with the business community to attack crime and gang offenses and to help make Chicago a safer city.

The CHICAGO Plan asks business owners across the city to register their privately owned closed circuit security camera systems and devices. As the Police Department responds to criminal incidents in the community, they can use any information or footage gathered from these security cameras to assist business owners and community members in the apprehension and prosecution of the criminals involved.

There are two ways that you can register:

1. Complete the Chicago Plan form online via the Chicago Police Department’s CLEARpath webpage at www.chicagopolice.org.
2. Download and complete the Chicago Plan Form at your local district police station. Completed forms can be turned in to your District’s Community Policing Office or faxed to the Chicago Police Department CAPS Project Office at (312) 745-1099.

Click here for more information on the CHICAGO Plan, and remember security cameras can be linked into the City’s 911/ 311 call center through the Private Sector Camera Initiative as well.

“Retaking the street”

Uptown resident Ed Kuske’s efforts organizing Neighborhood Watches on Sheridan Road were recently featured by WBEZ as part of a story on public safety.  Follow this link to read the story.  For additional information on Ed’s neighborhood watches and others throughout Uptown click here and here.

Project Blue Lights

A holiday message from the Chicago Police Department:

Across the United States, 150 police officers have died in the line of duty this year.  The Chicago Police Department alone has lost 5 police officers in the line of duty.  During this holiday season, let’s honor our fallen officers by participating in Project Blue Lights.   Through this program, citizens are encouraged to display blue lights in their holiday decorations to remember law enforcement officers who have fallen, as well as those working tirelessly to keep all of us safe.  Let’s show our support!

Private Sector Camera Initiative

Security cameras can protect your home and business.  They deter crime from occurring and assist in solving crimes that have occurred.  Now the City is working with citizens to tie their private security cameras into the City’s 911 call center, run by the Office of Emergency Management and Communication (OEMC).  Exterior surveillance cameras tied into OEMC can be accessed during an emergency to provide first responders with information pertinent to the situation. Alderman Smith utilized this program at the public schools in the 48th Ward to great success.  If you already have security cameras, or are thinking of installing security cameras, click on the brochure below or call OEMC at 312-746-9111 for more information.

Safe Passage Program

Below is a message from our CAPS youth coordinator, Meg Gillman, about a program for neighbors called Safe Passage.  Safe Passage is part of a comprehensive new effort to get children to and from school safely.  Learn more about it here and give Meg a call at 312-742-0991 to request your sign.

Safe Passage is a city-wide program that involves neighbors in ensuring that children go to and from school safely.  Residents place a Safe Passage Neighborhood Watch sign in a front window and, when they are home, look out the window in the morning and in the afternoon to monitor children walking to and from school.  If there is a problem, neighbors should call 911.  To register for a Safe Passage sign, residents provide name, address and phone number to a CAPS Youth Coordinator or Organizer.  We do not check the background of people who display the sign; we just want to know where they are being displayed.  The signs do NOT indicate that a location is a safe place to seek help.

This is in contrast to the Safe Haven program for businesses. Businesses that display the Safe Haven sign have been checked by the Police for criminal background and proper licensing and have signed a contract with CAPS agreeing that people in distress can come in for their safety until Police respond to the owner’s 911 call.

Safe Passage monitors MOVEMENT. Safe Haven provides a LOCATION of refuge.

Please direct any questions and requests for Safe Passage signs to me at (312) 742-0991.  Thank you!

Meg Gillman

CAPS Youth Services Coordinator

Safe Neighborhoods in the Sun-Times

Uptown residents enjoying a Neighborhood Nights event at Winthrop and Winona

The hard work of neighbors in Uptown is receiving citywide attention.  A recent article in the Chicago Sun-Times highlights the impact positive loitering, neighborhood watches, and efforts like Neighborhood Nights can have on a community.  As the article states: “[I]n many places, a vigilant neighborhood attitude can work… Those neighborhoods become — or remain — safe because the residents work at it.” Click the link to view the entire article, and leave a message in the comments section if you want to get involved in one of the ongoing efforts in Uptown or to start your own.

911 Phone Tree

We would like for as many people as possible to fill out our telephone tree, which is present to help stop crimes within  our neighborhoods. Print the chart and  fill out each tree branch with your neighbors’ names, address, and telephone numbers.  When  suspicious activity is happening around our houses we would like for you to contact police and your neighbors so that they can contact police.

Click the picture  to enlarge and print the chart.

Map, Northeast Uptown

Above is a map of block clubs currently involved in this effort, with specific trouble spots marked.

Block clubs- organized neighbors- are the starting point. The best way to connect is to join your club, go to a meeting, and volunteer to work on an issue of relevance.

Please email info@actionuptown.com to add an issue to this map.

Troubled Areas

Below are a list of trouble spots within Uptown.

# Location: Issue/ Strategy/ Status/Update Options (Contact)

1: 4940 Winthrop: Drugs, gun fire on street, code violations, bad management practices. Pursuing landlord in court. Strategic Task Force reviewed building, many violations, court date expected early November 08. (10/14/08) Followed in Housing Court: 11 code violations, full compliance (February ’09).  Continuing to monitor. (Dana Fritz)

2: Sheridan & Lawrence: Liquor, loitering, aggressive panhandling, trash (10/14/08). Vote Dry (No one in charge). Police camera installed Spring ‘09.

3: Sheridan & Gunnison: Shootings, gang presence, drug dealing. Cameras, Neighborhood walks. Park layout changes. School renovation. Boys & Girls Club cameras out to bid, McCutheon cameras installed, Fall ’08. (10/14/08). Neighborhood watch (Ed Kuske), McCutheon School (Nancy Meyerson),  Sheridan Road Task Force organized for beautification and retail improvements (Dana Fritz) (11/21/09)

4: Buttercup Park: Gang presence, loitering, drinking. Redo park with redo of McCutheon school – more community facilities, better site lines. In planning – goal: Spring ‘09, maybe Spring ‘10.  (10/14/08) (Doug Fraser)

5: Somerset Nursing: Drug Rehab/ Nursing facility. Building in rough shape. Tenants misbehaving outside. Police/CAPS/Alderman met with Somerset 9/18/08, management trying to work with community, for full minutes of meeting email: Dana Fritz. Facility shuttered 11 March 2010, future uncertain (more information)

6: Winona & Winthrop/Kenmore: Gang presence, drug sales.  Sheridan & Kenmore police camera installed Spring ’09. Phone tree to call 911. Organize neighborhood watch. (No one in charge)

7: Goudy Park: Rowdy teenagers late nights, possible drug dealing, vandalism. Police patrols. Outreach to school. Better neighbor contacts. Improve lighting. Exterior cameras. Phone tree to call 911. Organize neighborhood watch. Target nearby bad buildings. (No one in charge)