My First CAPS Meeting
So I went to my first caps meeting yesterday. It was at the church across the street from me so I didn’t really have an excuse not to go. It was actually pretty interesting. I met two old friends who I haven’t seen in years since they moved out of my old neighborhood. I didn’t realize that I was following them to Rogers Park/West Ridge.
As for the content of the meeting, you need to know the street addresses in your neighborhood pretty well or it can scare the pants off of you. For example, there were four or five people who reported hearing gunshots, but when the police had them all give their addresses and time that they heard it, they were able to figure out that they were all talking about the same incident. That happened a couple times. I think about ten complaints reduced down to three incidents. In particular one corner seems to have acquired a dealer or two, while the rest of the neighborhood is still pretty quiet. I wonder how much of this is just always going on in all neighborhoods, but you just don’t notice it or hear about it if you don’t go to these meetings.
On the murder this weekend, it appears that it was not a random nor even unplanned act which, while still tragic, isn’t the start of a pattern of violence in the neighborhood.
It was also interesting to learn a bit about how the police work, they are mostly statistical, so if you want more police in your neighborhood, you need to call 911. In particular, a lot of your neighbors need to report these incidents as well.
Best tip of the night? Buy window treatments so the foot patrols can’t look into your windows as they walk around at night. Err… I mean so criminals can’t look in your windows and figure out your daily patterns. Also, the people that run these meetings are damn funny. The banter between the police and the regular attendees is pretty entertaining.