Vandalism

Wexford Village Crime Watch Meeting Notes - 9/27/07

I would like to personally thank all of you who attended last night’s meeting at the Alicia Ashman Library. We packed the meeting room and had standing room only. I feel we had some good conversations with Captain Jay Lengfeld (Madison Police Department West Precinct), Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, Jim Morgan (director of the Parks Department), and Paul Skidmore (Alder district 9). A summary of the issues raised and actions taken at the meeting follows:

1.		Vandalism at the park
	a.	To reduce the amount of vandalism at the park, it was proposed that we set up teams of residents to patrol the park after 10:00pm on Thursday – Sunday nights. Dave Tolmie will be putting together a list of people who would like to volunteer to patrol the park. Please contact Dave via e-mail or phone if you are interested. Wexford_ncw@charter.net (608) 836-8784.
	b.	Continue to call the police department for all after hour’s activity in the park.
	c.	Photograph any and all vandalism at the park.
	d.	Write down any license plate numbers the belong to vehicles that are associated with after hour activities at the park.
	e.	Submit an incident report on the Wexford Village website (http://www.wexfordvillage.org/associationIncidentReport.htm).
2.		Lack of lighting in the park
	a.	The city parks department has taken the initiative to put in lighting in certain areas of the park. They are looking at three possibilities. All options would illuminate the playground, main entrance to the woods, park shelter, and basketball/tennis courts.
	b.	Dave Tolmie will follow up with the city to keep in the loop as to the progress and scheduling.
3.		Lack of signs indicating that the park closes at 10:00pm
	a.	Both the Mayor and Parks department said they would be sure to post signs at all major entrances at the park.
	b.	Dave Tolmie will follow up with the city to ensure this gets done in the next few weeks.
4.		Vandalism to mail boxes, homes, and path lights
	a.	Neighborhood patrols were suggested to help reduce this problem.
	b.	Reporting any vehicle in our neighborhood that does not belong there to the police.
	c.	Further discussions need to take place for other options. Dave Tolmie will talk to Officer Mary Ann Thurber of the Madison Police Department to see when she could come out and talk with us again about detailed neighborhood policing and best practices.
5.		Lack of police response to calls in our neighborhood
	a.	Captain Lengfeld discussed the staffing levels for the Westside of Madison and explained that there are simply not enough officers to patrol our neighborhood. Specifically between the hours of 10:00pm and 11:00pm they are going through a shift change, and they will only respond to emergencies at this time.
	b.	Mayor Dave noted that he has added an additional 30 officers to the 2008 budget to help with this problem.
	c.	Captain Lengfeld also said that there will be additional neighborhood officers that can help with our type of crime, these new officers should be available early 2008.
	d.	Paul Skidmore offered that if we can come up with specific times, locations and patterns of activity, that an undercover officer could be assigned to patrol the areas identified for a couple of days to try to put a stop to the problems.
6.		Graffiti on walking paths, light posts, and in the park
	a.	Mayor Dave said he would have the city clean up the graffiti in the park. Dave Tolmie will follow up with the city on this issue.
	b.	Residents should report all graffiti to the police, so the city can clean it up.
	c.	Dave Tolmie will bring up the issue of graffiti on the walking paths with the Wexford Village board of directors on October 2nd, to discuss cleaning up the walking paths, and light poles. It is believed that since these belong to Wexford Village, that the city will not clean up this graffiti for us.
	d.	If anyone would like to coordinate volunteers to help clean up the graffiti in our neighborhood, please contact a board member or Dave Tolmie to help get the word out.
7.		Underage drinking and drugs in the park/woods
	a.	Park patrols were suggested to help with this issue, and have been addressed above.
	b.	Report all activities during the day or night of seeing people bringing in alcohol or coolers into the woods. It has been witnessed many times that young adults/teens are bringing in coolers during the day for night time parties. Please take down license numbers and descriptions for the police.
	c.	Report this activity to the crime watch group to schedule patrols that evening to stop this activity, and even remove the alcohol.
	d.	If drugs are found, report this to the police immediately.
	e.	Overgrowth of invasive shrubs and plants in the woods
8.		Overgrowth of invasive shrubs and plants in the woods
	a.	There is a lot of overgrowth in the woods, blocking the view from the street into the park. Volunteers to help clean this up would be greatly appreciated. Jim Morgan and Ken Schmidt discussed that coordination between Wexford Village and the Parks department can get this done, but your help is needed.
	b.	At the next meeting, we should make plans to identify a plan of action and schedule the clean up efforts. If anyone would like to volunteer to lead this effort, please contact Ken Schmidt or Dave Tolmie

I would like to note that Patricia Baer-Watts has volunteered her time to be the secretary for the future meetings. Thank you very much!

At this time I would like to propose that we hold our next meeting in the next couple of weeks. I checked with the library, and the meeting room is booked solid for the month of October. I would like to propose that we hold our next meeting at the park shelter on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon/evening, say October 13th or 14th. This would give us the opportunity to walk through the park as a group, and plan actions for: cleaning up the woods, walk threw plans and scheduling, lighting ideas, and discuss trends in the area to better plan courses of action. I will try to have Officer Cindy Thiesenhusen (our neighborhood officer) attend this meeting as well. Please get back to me if you might be able to attend. If you have other suggestions on meeting locations, please let me know.

I will send out a meeting agenda when the meeting is scheduled. I would appreciate any suggestions for topics of interest that have not been addressed above.

Thank you again for attending this meeting, and for your comments, suggestions, and efforts to date. Together we can clean up our neighborhood issues, and make this a better place for all to enjoy.

Dave Tolmie
Wexford_ncw@charter.net
(608) 836-8784

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I have scheduled the next neighborhood crime watch meeting for Thursday September, 27th, 2007at 7:00pm. It will be held at the Alicia Ashman Library as usual. Mayor Dave will be in attendance to discuss our crime issues.

PLEASE BE SURE TO ATTEND! BRING ALL YOUR NEIGHBORS AS WELL!

Dave Tolmie

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I have scheduled the next neighborhood crime watch meeting for Thursday September, 27th at 7:00pm. It will be held at the Alicia Ashman Library as usual. Mayor Dave will be in attendance to discuss our crime issues.

PLEASE BE SURE TO ATTEND! BRING ALL YOUR NEIGHBORS AS WELL!

Dave Tolmie

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Hello everyone.

Here is the NBC15 news report that was done on Wexford Park. It came out pretty good. John did make a mistake, I am not the head of the neighborhood association, but other than that, he did not make any mistakes. Let’s hope this helps us out.

http://www.nbc15.com/crimetracker/headlines/8557132.html

David Tolmie

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Greetings friends and neighbors!

This afternoon I spent about an hour with John Stofflet from NBC15 News. He is doing stories about crime in neighborhoods. I took him to the “party pit” in our woods behind the park, and we also walked over to one of the paths to show the lights that get damaged frequently. They filmed the gazebo, and the chained tables there in, the playground, the woods, and some of the walking path going up Apple Hill.

You can see the report on NBC15 News on Tuesday night at 10:00pm. I am hoping this will get some city attention on our problem of vandalism, drugs, and underage drinking in our park and neighborhood.

Have a great day.
Dave Tolmie

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Hello everyone.

I’d like to let you all know that thanks to Officer Cindy Thiesenhusen, Wexford Park will be highlighted on the NBC 15 Crime Tracker report. I will be meeting with a photo journalist on Thursday to show them some of the problems with the park, and what types of crimes we are facing in our neighborhood.

I plan to show them the “bunker”, or “party pit”, in the woods, as well as talk about the lack of lighting, and the problems with the vandalism at the park. I feel that a lot of the crime in our neighborhood starts with a party at the park, or maybe ends there. Either way, if we can get some more city attention on our problems, we just might get some more help from the city. I’m hoping for a couple of lights near the shelter and playground for starters.

I’d like to ask you all for any input you might have. I’d like to get the collective input and present it to NBC 15. So if you have any ideas, or topics that you want discussed, I’ll do my best to get them in. Who knows what the report will eventually come out to be, but this is a golden opportunity to get the word out on our crime problems.

Thanks Cindy!!!!!

Dave Tolmie

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Hello everyone.

I wanted to let you all know that our efforts have started to pay off. Here is a note from Officer Cindy Thiesenhusen:

“Good news... Or at least a good start. Some night fighters caught 5 juveniles in the park last night and cited them all!!! I have been told they will continue their efforts!”

Please continue to all in ALL suspicious activity to the police. With our continued efforts, we just might eliminate, or at least greatly reduce, the problems in our neighborhood.

Thanks for your wonderful efforts!
Dave Tolmie

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2007 - NEW Wexford Village laison from the West Police District. Contact her with concerns or issues that you feel may be of concern.

Greetings-

I will second what Dave requested. It is very important that if you hear/see people's property being damaged, that the Police should be contacted. Also, with the increasing problems at the park, I highly recommend that if you see kids in the park after 10pm, the Police should also be contacted. There should be no one in the park after 10pm, and if they are, they are there illegally and the police need to know. We work 24 hours and are here to serve you all. Please do not hesitate to contact us.

With that all said, to introduce myself to you... I am known as Officer Cindy in many circles. I am the Neighborhood Police Officer for the Wexford Ridge Apartments. I also spend a significant amount of time at Memorial HS. I am your liaison Officer with the Police Department. I have attempted to attend a couple of your neighborhood meetings, and only made it to one for a brief time. I look forward to attending the neighborhood meeting that you have in the future. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.

If you need immediate police assistance please contact Dispatch @ 255-2345

Thank you-

Officer Cindy Thiesenhusen 2713
Madison Police Department
Wexford Ridge Neighborhood Officer
Office: 833-5160
West Police District: 288-6176

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September 10th update from our neighborhood police liason, Denise Marx:

The past two weekends have been pretty active out there. I did not receive calls for service, but saw more juveniles and cars than normal in the area. There was definitely an underage drinking party going on Labor Day weekend, however I could not tell which residence. This past weekend a house on N. Westfield was toilet-papered. I pulled up just as the kids were finishing. They ran from the area on foot when I drove by. I received a message in my mailbox that a residence had called to complain about increased activity. I have not noticed an increase, have you heard anything about this? I have been in contact with Jill O'Brien, president of the High Point Pool. I now have a letter on file from her that allows me to enforce trespassing at the pool. This summer I went to the pool on a few occasions' reference juveniles swimming during the early morning hours. This letter will allow me to take enforcement action in the future. I hope that residents will continue to call and let me know about any problems and/or concerns in the neighborhood. Let me know if there are concerns you have. Thanks, Denise

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About 40 Wexford residents attended the informational session on Crime Prevention on Wednesday, June 5th at the Alicia Ashman Library. Many more expressed interest and concern, but were unable to attend due to prior committments. Due to this, we are trying to schedule another meeting soon. With the governer's conference, all police agencies are much too busy right now. We will send out another flyer when a meeting is confiremed.

Lieutenant Tony Peterson of the West Madison Police Precinct will came and talked to the neighborhood about:

• Police staffing, prioritization of calls, expectations
• Crime prevention strategies
• What to do when we see suspicious activities
• Our Neighborhood Police liaisons contact (Denise Marx and Darren Fortney)
• Answered neighborhood questions and concerns

There were many handouts at the meeting which delve deeper into these topics. Lieutenant Peterson also sent around a sign-up sheet for those interested in receiving a West Side Precinct newletter via email. Anyone who would like this email or any of the handouts, but was not in the meeting can attend the next meeting or contact Trish who will forward it to you.

A questionnaire was handed out to assess what if any actions we should take as a result of the meeting. After the next meeting, we will combine results and share them with the neighborhood.

Many neighbors expressed concern over having no idea about the amount of vandalism going on. Therefore, one action plan that will be implemented is a listing of all thefts and activities we are concerned about to be maintained on the website. If you are involved in an incident, whether it be a speeder or a theft, you can submit the incident via the website. All incidents will be listed for the neighborhood to see and be aware of. We will not list names or addresses, but just the details of the incident.

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Updates:

* 3/30/02: Several teenagers were given tickets during a recent underage drinking party at a Wexford Resident's home.

* 3/14/02: Police have arrested 20 juveniles on Madison'w west side for a string of burglary and vandalism incidents that have plagued residents over the past six months. Most of the incidents have occurred where the juveniles live. Police are urging residents to keep garage doors and cars locked and to keep an eye out for criminal activiety.

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The Wexford Homeowners association has received several complaints regarding an alarming increase in the number of delinquent behaviors taking place in our community including:

Apparently, Wexford park has a reputation among high school students as being a "safe" place to party due to lack of sufficient police patrol. Whether or not that is an accurate statement, we cannot say. But we can work together with the police department to put an end to these problems. We strongly encourage ALL Wexford residents to do the following:

Contact numbers: