It might make sense to add Elgin to the list of strolls. Below was in the Daily Herald today.
[quote]Elgin chief meets neighbors on prostitutes, drugs
By Lenore T. Adkins | Daily Herald Staff Writer
Published: 7/18/2008 12:05 AM
Elgin police are committed to ensuring pimping, prostituting, drug-dealing and abusing don't come easy on the city's near west side.
To that end, they have devoted additional police resources to the area and last week arrested two prostitutes known as "Country" and "Alley Cat," Chief Lisa Womack said Thursday during a two-hour meeting with 11 residents at the police station.
Drugs are also down in the neighborhood, thanks to new security measures implemented by management at the Buena Vista Tower, 222 Locust Street, she said.
That includes cameras on every floor, alarms on the stairwell doors and hiring off-duty Chicago police officers as security guards, said manager Brenda Huff.
While Greg Schneider, the neighborhood's live-in officer, is off figh ting in Iraq, Womack has assigned officer Tony Rigano, who serves the southeast side in the Resident Officer Program of Elgin, to make his presence known on the near west side as well.
"Perception is everything," Rigano said. "If you get the criminals to realize and understand that the police are in the neighborhood and not going anywhere, they're going to think twice before they continue their criminal activity."
For the first time, Womack heard complaints also about the disconnect some residents say exist between Schneider and themselves.
Chuck Keysor, president of the Near West Neighbors Association, said Schenider wasn't visible enough in the area, had inadequate communication skills with residents and skipped neighborhood meetings.
"He's a good man and I like him; that's why I haven't complained," Keysor said. "It's hard to complain about someone you like."
While Womack said she can't address that issue until February when Schneider returns, resident Roy Chapman accused Keysor of changing the meeting's focus.
"I thought we were here to talk about drugs and prostitutes," Chapman said. "I didn't know it was roast the ROPE officer. I don't think that's appropriate."
The meeting came eight days after 20 residents pleaded with city leaders and the police chief at a council meeting to help them quell crime.
For the last three months, the neighborhood has enjoyed the lion's share of police resources, Womack said.
The majority of complaints about the neighborhood's working girls originate from State and Chicago Streets, "a highly traveled corridor" that includes several businesses and the bus station.
"The nature of some of the businesses that provide food and beverages ... it's got places that tend to attract loitering," Womack said.
Womack declined to single out any one establishment, but says police have had varying success with some of the owners and landlords when it comes to fighting crime.
While the department continues evaluating where the ROPE houses are in relation to the city's crime, moving the ROPE house to another spot in the neighborhood has finally become an option, something near west neighbors have wanted since 2005.
"We don't feel on Union Street there's that many problems," said resident Cinda Bates. "In our area, we have a lot of problems and we would like to have a ROPE officer moved into that area."
To be sure, drugs are more of an issue in the neighborhood than prostitutes, Womack said.
Residents wanted to know what they could do to help police and Gary Joy, former president of the neighbors association, suggested they form a citizen patrol to monitor crime.
Womack encouraged neighbors to continue calling police and report any suspicious activity in great detail to police.
Keysor floated the idea of either creating a local database with pictures of known prostitutes and johns or asking local publications to do it as a community service.
"When we can say this person is a known prostitute ... it's going to lower the rate of people being pulled over for nothing," Keysor said.
But Carl Missele, a member of the police Citizen's Advisory Group, questioned whether the neighbors open themselves to lawsuits for calling someone out on their alleged behavior, if it turns out the accused aren't convicted in a court of law.[/quote]