The Advantage of Community Involvement

Two Crime Sprees Stopped
The effort by the Milwaukee Police Department in stopping two crime sprees is commendable. Not only did they halt a string of armed robberies, but they also apprehended a suspect who followed elderly women from the grocery store and attacked them near or in their homes. The latter is of particular interest, as it involved an undercover operation by police and block watch involvement in the Sherman Park area...not too far from our neighborhood.

Undercover/Out in the Open
The cooperation between police and the neighborhood is an example of how communities should work. It highlights the responsibility we as citizens have in our own protection. It also underscores a strategy and frame of mind crucial for safe, thriving communities, that of visibility.

In this case, the police relied on stealth, but the Sherman Park Neighborhood relied on their visibility. In the video, the block watch captain tells how Sherman Park's monthly safety meeting helped identify a pattern and flesh out a description of the crime and the criminal. Who knows how long this could have taken if the neighborhood did not support these meetings?

Statement of Responsibility
The visibility of a neighborhoods residents is important, it makes a statement the neighborhood is cared for and it will be protected, even at the most basic level, that of the neighborhood's residents. This statement rings true with not only the criminals, but also the police who service the community, and present and future residents.

Sherman Park's vigilance is something we should emulate; it's easy to do. As a neighbor, be visible, be involved. Get outside. Meet your neighbors. Take responsibility for your safety and the safety of your neighborhood. Just because it's cold out there, doesn't mean it has to be lonely or unsafe.

Kudos, Sherman Park and MPD.

Mulchfest in Kodachrome White and Blue

From Bruce Cameron, EPNA organizer

With a brilliant blue sky and new white landscape as our background, we held our fourth Mulchfest at the park this past Saturday, and reporting that 43 trees were spared from the city's landfill for next season's mulch around city trees and boulevards tells only a small part of the story. The rest was in seeing the kids walking through the snow holding the top of the tree with a parent in tow on the other end; it was Bill Fink and his son Forest stopping their pickup on the way in to add several trees left in snow banks; it was Tom Hurelbus and his wife trekking on foot with their tree from 75th street and invigorated by the exercise; and it was Donna Bieser coming to share hot cider and tell us about the fun she had with the kids rounding up a number of trees on her block and bringing them in stages to their final resting place outside the pavilion to await the city truck.

In January, most of us hibernate. But on this luminous occasion, we collectively warmed the day with community and I am the richer for it.