15 Residents attended the 15th District PSA1 meeting on November 19th and were treated to a great presentation by Officer Kennelly on burglary prevention. Burglary has been a significant problem in the past few months. He noted that an arrest made in another district was connected to a string of burglaries in Northwood, With the arrest of those perpetrators, the burglary rate has now gone down.
Preventing burglary is using a lot of common sense such as:
- Lock your windows.
- Trim bushes that block view of your windows.
- Stop your mail if you go away.
- Put a motion detector on your outdoor lighting.
- Don’t announce you are going away on Facebook.
- Keep a record of your serial numbers for your equipment. It makes it possible to recover stolen property if its located at a pawn shop.
Officer Matt Crosson is filling in for Officer Jacobs as Community Relations officer. He advised to be on guard against scammers who knock on your door and say they need to come in. Always get identification and if you are not sure, call 911.
Lt. Gordon, Officers Kennelly and Crosson
Joe Krause reported on the situation in Northwood:
- The resident who is selling cars out of his house continues to park them all over the area around Foulkrod and Castor. He takes up valuable parking space and is in violation of zoning in operating a business.
- The area around Adams and Castor is filled with businesses who park their cars on the sidewalk. If creates a hazardous condition since it forces pedestrians onto the street. Kids walk on those sidewalks to school.
Griscom street in the 5000 and 4700 blocks continue to harbor drug sales.
Lt. Gordon in response to whether there are beat cops, says that he encourages his officers to park and walk the block rather than cruise on through. He trains his officers to get out and walk to see what is happening on foot.
The area around Harding Middle School is surrounded by parked 18 wheelers. Is this legal? The police say it is. As long as parking is permitted, they can park there. Joe Krause pointed out that Northwood worked with Councilwoman Sanchez office to get legislation passed by City Council to prohibit truck parking throughout Northwood. The same could be done for this area of Frankford.
In response to the issue of “loosies” being sold at stores in Frankford, Lt. Gordon says this is an L&I issue. That means a call to 311. It will not be a high priority though and the fine for an offense like that is minor compared to the profits of selling them. Minors are often those who are buying.
There will be a gun buy back on December 19th from 11 AM to 2 PM at the Engine 38 fire house at 4931 Magee Avenue sponsored by the 15th District PDAC (Police District Advisory Council). Bring in a gun, rifle or shotgun and receive a $50 supermarket gift card. No questions asked. Bring your gun unloaded.
The next meeting of the 15th District PSA1 will be held on Thursday, December 17th at 7 PM at Aria Hospital.
