Community policing program 2017

Joel Vargas Researcher CONTINGENT SECURITY SERVICES, LTD.

Casey Brunelle Postgraduate Student UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

RETHINKING COMMUNITY ORIENTED POLICING:

THIS REPORT IS PROVIDED FREE OF CHARGE.

BUILDING A COMMUNITY POLICING PROGRAM WITH CRIME PREVENTION, OUTREACH, AND INCLUSION.

Phone: 312-650-9363 Email: joel@contingentsecurity.com WWW: CONTINGENTSECURITY.COM Copyright © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Abstract Community-oriented policing is a philosophy that has been attempted by police departments all across the world. While the focus has traditionally been to introduce sustained strategies for police departments in effectively policing their respective jurisdictions, many such programs fail in their application to produce measurable results. This causes police departments to revert to their “old ways.” Officers, on many occasions, may see these strategies as being attempts from management to try to “fix" their operational outlook or institutional culture and, as such, many resist such paradigm shifts. This research offers a pragmatic and substantive approach to community-oriented policing by focusing in three key, mutually dependent activities: Crime Prevention, Outreach and Inclusion. Contextually sensitive programs are then built to fit the unique needs of the communities and their citizens as stakeholders of consensus. Quality of Life and Human Development are two such holistic aspirations that are introduced in this model.

The underlying goal of achieving sustained low levels of crime and street violence occur organically when the community proactively participates in the collective public safety and security. This proven framework is not composed simply of magic bullets to deal with crime as the symptom of complex socioeconomic root causes, but is rather a uniquely holistic and comprehensive policing model, whose findings suggest that police departments elsewhere can replicate similar results as seen in Bensenville, IL. The research concludes that focusing policing efforts (at least one division) to improve the Quality of Life of all stakeholders in the community at large and implement Human Development are key steps in sustainably reducing crime and violence. The most disadvantaged and marginalized residents—especially the immigrant and migrant communities—are to be offered the opportunity for Human Development and the actualization of their capabilities in their native language when necessary. Overall, a comprehensive crime prevention program such as that which is detailed in this report carries great promise in effectively, efficiently, and sustainable reducing otherwise incidences of street crimes, while also fostering proactive community integration and collaboration with law enforcement.

Disclaimer on Presented Research Results Opinions or points of view expressed on this research represent a consensus of the author/researcher and editor and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the Village of Bensenville. Any details on programs discussed in the research are presented for informational purposes. Data presented in the research is data that can be obtained by FOIA with the Village of Bensenville.

© Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 1/80

Acknowledgments

By Joel Vargas The completion of this undertaking could not have been possible without the participation and assistance of so many people whose names may not all be enumerated. Their contributions are sincerely appreciated and gratefully acknowledged. However, I would like to express my deep appreciation and indebtedness particularly to the following: To Chief Frank Kosman, Deputy Chief John Lustro, Deputy Chief Brian Dooley, Sgt. Eric Zodrow, and Administrative Aid for Chief Carol Baran, for their endless support and understanding during my time in the Bensenville Police Department.

To the board of the Bensenville Chamber of Commerce, all the members and volunteers for all the different crime prevention groups, government organizations in Bensenville, non-governmental organizations (NGO’s), and others who in one way or another shared their support, thank you.

To the previous and current Village of Bensenville administrations for their commitment to the residents of Bensenville, to make Bensenville safe and provide crime prevention, outreach and inclusion as ways to improve the Quality of Life for everyone. The previous administration: Village President Frank Soto and Village Manager Michael J. Cassady (Currently Village Manager for Village of Mount Prospect, IL). The current administration: Village President Frank DeSimone and Village Manager Evan K. Summers.

To all the law enforcement agencies at Chicago O’Hare International Airport and especially: David Mertz, Supervisory Agent for the FBI, Kathleen Petrowsky (Ret.), Federal Security Director with TSA and Dereck Starks, current Federal Security Director with TSA, Javier Burgos and Ben Ferdinand, Assistant Federal Security Directors for TSA, Philip Haffron, Transportation Security Specialist-Explosives with TSA, Ross Preston, Intelligence Officer with TSA, Commander Thomas Argenbright (Ret.) and current Commander Thomas O’Brien with Chicago Police Department, Richard Edgeworth (Ret.), Managing Deputy Commissioner & Chief Safety & Security, as well the current Managing Deputy Commissioner Andrew Velasquez and Carmen Valdez, Assistant to Commissioner, with the Chicago Department of Aviation.

To Secretary General Jay Grant for the International Association of Airport & Seaport Police (InterPort Police) for the opportunity to spend time as a Senior Staff Member, and currently as Director of Criminal Intelligence, and for the opportunity to interact with some of the best police forces from around the world and learn from them.

I would like to thank Casey Brunelle who assisted in the writing and editing of this Report, as well as included his multiple insights into crime prevention, counter-terrorism, and security and strategic studies. His assistance and support remains a most highly valued asset.

I am grateful to have spent a lot of time learning best practices of Community Policing from Sgt. Jacques Brunelle (Ret.) with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), who is the founder of Airport Watch in Ottawa and the current Aviation Security subject matter expert for BORDERPOL, as well as Sgt. Al Cooper (Ret.) with the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport Police. Their unconditional commitment to my efforts in Bensenville made a significant impact in this research.

Lastly, I want to take a moment to thank my sister Monica M. Vargas, who has been a pillar and partner in my endeavor in this project and many others that involved public safety. My sister and my family are committed to making the world a safer place—one community at the time.

I thank you.

© Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 2/80

About the Authors

BIOGRAPHY: Joel Vargas spent nearly a decade at the Bensenville Police Department where it was possible to create a Community Policing Program that can be replicated in other communities in the United States. This research was a big endeavor as it put everything else on hold in his professional life until it was completed. Nevertheless, Mr. Vargas was appointed (Ad Honorem) by the Secretary General Jay Grant of InterPort Police as Assistant Director for Law Enforcement Operations and Director of Criminal Intelligence and managed intelligence product of all Tier II Subject Matter Experts (SME) from around the world distributed to the US Intelligence Community as well as liaison to the intelligence communities for the Five Eyes. Mr. Vargas served as Adviser to the airports and seaports members of the organization, as well as Adviser to the Organization of American States (OAS). Among the research conducted at InterPort Police include regarding corruption on the US/Mexico Border, Social Media Impact to the US Intelligence Community, Insider Threat in Airports, the Drug War, and hundreds of security briefings.

BIOGRAPHY: Casey Brunelle was a great asset to the publication of this Report, having extensively reviewed its contents and having included his valuable insights into crime prevention, counterterrorism, and security and strategic studies. As well as being a serving soldier with the Canadian Army Primary Reserves, Casey has worked as the Homeland Security and CounterTerrorism Advisor to InterPort Police, a humanitarian affairs researcher and analyst at United Nations HQ, and has been published in numerous academic and policy journals and articles. Currently a postgraduate at Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge, Casey's diverse knowledge and insight continues to serve the public interest internationally.

Š Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 3/80

Contents Abstract ....................................................................................................... 1 Acknowledgments ...................................................................................... 2 About the Authors ...................................................................................... 3 Contents ...................................................................................................... 4 Introduction................................................................................................. 5 Statement of the Problem .......................................................................... 9 Working Hypotheses ................................................................................ 10 Significance of the Study......................................................................... 10 Research Design and Methodology........................................................ 15 Literature Review ..................................................................................... 17 Analysis and Findings ............................................................................. 19

Key Components of the Comprehensive Crime Prevention Initiative ..................................... 21 I. The Outreach Part of the Initiative ................................................................................................. 23 II. The Crime Prevention Part of the Initiative .................................................................................. 24 III. The Inclusion Part of the Initiative ................................................................................................ 25

Customized Programs Launched ........................................................... 27

I. Neighborhood Watch Program: ...................................................................................................... 28 II. Business Watch Program: .............................................................................................................. 31 IV. Crime Free Multi-Housing Program: ........................................................................................... 34 V. The Bensenville ORD Airport Watch Program: ......................................................................... 36 VI. Student Watch Program: ............................................................................................................... 40 VII. Organizations Watch Program: .................................................................................................. 43

Comprehensive Analysis of the Police Activity Data ........................... 46

Part I-A: Crimes Against Persons (Violent) .................................................................................... 51 Part I-B: Property Crimes .................................................................................................................... 53 Part II-A: Other Crimes Against Persons ......................................................................................... 56 Part II-B: Public Disorder Crimes ...................................................................................................... 58 Part II-C: Drug and Alcohol Offenses ............................................................................................... 61 Part II-D: White Collar Crimes ............................................................................................................ 63 Part II-E: All Other Crimes ................................................................................................................... 65 Community Initiated by Calling-Crime Prevention ....................................................................... 66 Officer Initiated Crime Prevention ..................................................................................................... 67 Summary of All Dataset Categories .................................................................................................. 68

2016 Comprehensive Analysis of Crime Prevention Efforts: Four Apartment Complexes. ............................................................................ 71

PURPOSE OF THIS REPORT .............................................................................................................. 71 BACKGROUND OF THE COMPREHENSIVE CRIME PREVENTION EFFORTS ....................... 71 ANALYSIS OF CRIME PREVENTION EFFORTS IN THESE 4 APARTMENT COMPLEXES .. 72 ANALYSIS AND METRICS ................................................................................................................... 74

Conclusion ................................................................................................ 77

© Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 4/80

Introduction There is significant existing research regarding policing philosophies and community-oriented policing models that are intended to “fix” police departments. A common underlying message is that most of these models or programs ultimately require a shift inside these police departments that involve police culture. It is no secret that many police officers—as well as, often, the institution, itself—erroneously perceive such institutional change to be an existential threat. For decades, such officers are selfindoctrinated to stop any change with rumors, unsubstantiated fears, and the proliferated perception thereof. Almost immediately upon the embarking of the implementation of the newly adopted policing model, the programs become heavily resisted, opposed, and sabotaged by these officers. While this phenomenon certainly does not occur in every situation, it is nonetheless a predominant phenomenon.

Accordingly, it is almost as the police command strives to implement a new communitypolicing program, that they must also include a simultaneous program to counter the resistance and deal with the political issues. Ignoring the underlying resistance and political issues many times end up with the chief and command being terminated and replaced with command who quickly dispose of the proposed institutional changes.

As the result of the preliminary findings, this research had to be a different approach that required no change in police culture—certainly, a nearly impossible task.

Unlike temporary research projects, this one was initiated on January 1, 2010 and was terminated on December 31, 2016. It was an embedded research and it tried different programs—all oriented as crime prevention and community building ideas, and ways to improve the quality of life of the residents, while working as a Crime Prevention Coordinator (CPC). The ideas were brought from different parts of the world with low crime, high levels of diversity, and phenomenal public safety programs oriented to serve the community in question. Exploring the different options and conducting dedicated data collection required the implementation of pillars and programs that could bring about gradual and sustained transformation in the relationship between community and police. As the first point of resistance, usually it was to “shoot the messenger” and resist his presence. This will happen in almost 100% of the cases, and so it came as no great surprise.

One of the most significant insights in this research is that when the police officers’ attitudes and culture are positive and serve the community by means of a service ethos built around equitable ethics, citizens have pride in their community and are willing to cooperate with the police in order to protect it. In fact, in year one of this research, in 2010, the community took ownership of the partnership with the police and delivered substantial results in crime reduction in the entire village (over 50% reduction in the first year and over 70% in the second year of the deployment). As the reduction in crime became visible, there was also a significant increase in the numbers of crime prevention-related calls generated by the community—also another measurable result.

At the same time, it became clear that police culture has something to do with how policing occurs to members of the community and the relationship with everyone—most especially minority groups. During the process, a number of officers practically and © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 5/80

proactively embraced the change. Command must recognize this and take advantage of it.

Some of the challenges that police departments face today are the negative perception of them by many in the public. The challenges include rumors that become justified the moment that often privately filmed videos circulate in traditional media and online social media, which often result in criminal charges and lawsuits being filed against police officers and their departments—or, in some particularly inflammatory cases, the officers in question are judged in the court of public opinion. Changing perception of the police is not an easy or short-term task. Many different components need to be introduced into these police departments to produce a gradual and sustained improvement. During this research, it became evident that a component of “Inclusion” was necessary to involve members of the community who typically stayed away from volunteering and becoming involved with local governmental and non-governmental activities. This demonstrated that it was crucial especially for minorities to be included and to be given opportunities to lead and be part of the partnership dynamic. This inclusion aspect also became an engine to further develop these members of the community to acquire skills to become better members of the community, develop their leadership skills, and give back to the community by “teaching them to teach others.” An example of this is having residents from one of the largest apartment complexes, consisting primarily of those who emigrated from Guatemala—many of whom had been educators in their country—actually leading the literacy program. The same situation, for instance, was effected when DuPage County Area Project (DuCap), a Neighborhood Action Club, was formed with about 70 families.

While race relations improved during this research, the research, itself, had been intended to produce a holistic approach to local government relations with the entire community regardless of race—and, in this case, regardless of legal immigration and legal status. It is important to state that this research will not address any of the cases that began with the legally justified police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. However, it is highly recommended that people read all the U.S. Department of Justice recommendations during their investigation in the Ferguson Case and many others that have followed. If a police department is suffering from similar dynamics involving race relations, then these recommendations should be followed more closely throughout the institutional hierarchy, and especially by those frontline police officers.

These investigations provide valuable information on the public experience with policing and should not be ignored, either passively or actively. It is possible that the ideas in this research can be implemented, while dealing with the serious legal and structural problems in many police departments today.

Since it is clear that elected officials all over the United States have an instrumental interest in improving the public perception of their respective police forces, the need to bring about sustained transformation in their police departments is one of their highest priorities. Changing police culture in short-term, “one-size-fits all,” quick fixes simply does not—and will not—ever work in the long-term. On the other hand, institutional transformation occurs in the realm of possibilities that even the police officer(s) cannot resist, oppose, or sabotage. This research is centered on the © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 6/80

transformation of this relationship between community and police that transcends any such “quick-fix” or “one-size-fits-all” ideas/programs. In other words, let the community drive the change when they become part of the solution. When even the most disadvantaged, marginalized, and poor in a community engage in the vision of improving the quality of life and having a crime-free environment, the work for the local government becomes significantly easier as a positive-feedback loop of inclusion and law enforcement. Chief Frank Kosman calls this a “Force Multiplier.”

It may seem counterintuitive that a research would be produced that discusses improving the relationship between police and community and it would not address changing police cultures. While there is a clear distinction between race-related scandals and a lack of community policing practices, the root of all the challenges have “something to do with police culture.” However, police culture is not the entire cause, but merely a symptom of broader trends. At least many policing experts and researchers agree on the premise that police culture seems to be the root of the relationship problem between community and police, but fail short of identifying possible solutions— mainly because the focus in most research is in fixing the officers and not finding officers inside these departments who can enact the possibilities for real transformation.

The reality is that police officers, community activists, and their different organizations, governments at all levels, as well as victims of unlawful police conduct, are all trying to address the relationship problems between police and community.

Policing crises are not something that can be contained or managed any longer as they arise sporadically. It is a real crisis and it must be addressed with sound reform and the implementation of real transformation at the highest level of policy and the lowest level of practice. On the same token, the only real beneficiaries of this relationship crisis are the criminals that enjoy the partial or complete lack of trust between communities and police forces, especially in crime-infested areas in many urban districts. The legitimate fears of legal problems also have reduced significantly the crime prevention efforts by these departments and the activities, such as traffic stops that can produce arrests related to drugs, guns, gangs, and other violent criminal activities.

In addition, this research will not address the question of racial bias in police forces. It is clear that there is intentional and unintentional differential treatment based on race from some police officers and departments. It can be rooted in police culture many times and in other cases, individual officers simply exhibit racial tendencies of their own accord and formulation. I still have not found a pre-screening test for police officers that screen racism, and this gap should be considered for future research.

However, most police researchers would never write or admit that there is a problem in the way minorities are treated, at least at an institutional level. Even people such as myself—a Mexican-American—have experienced this differential treatment at least once in our lifetimes and I have served in public safety for a long time. Driving a Mercedes Benz in mostly black and Latino apartment complex can produce a bogus traffic stop. It has happened to me as it happens to countless others throughout the country everyday.

© Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 7/80

Lastly, pushback from police and some mainstream and alternative media outlets have also fueled the debate and divisions between community and police. All this negativity is also affecting police morale in police departments and recruiting, as, generally speaking, new generations are simply not attracted to policing because of this perceived negativity. This leaves the police department with the issue of recruiting less desirable applicants, with inappropriate tendencies that may ferment in overtly racist conduct. A police recruit with anti-Semitic feelings and history, for instance, with tattoos that claim alliance to white supremacy and neo-Nazi movements, anti-Latino sentiments are not expressing their First Amendment rights. The recruits and existing officers that are engaged in these kinds of expressions must not be recruited and must be consistently removed from the police departments. Unequivocally, racism in policing must not be tolerated in any and all of its forms.

What is even more disturbing is making such potentially racist officers Field Training Officers (FTOs). This, I have personally witnessed in many small and large departments, alike. These trends must be reversed promptly and, rather than reducing the standard requirements to enter the police profession, they must be increased and racial bias must be screened more thoroughly and systematically. The attacks by extremist elements within some groups, such as Black Lives Matter (BLM) and others that were in existence prior to the Ferguson Case, are not going away—especially in consideration of the proliferation of online social media and the instantaneous reporting of events and perspectives. Adding to this negative rhetoric is individuals with mental disabilities who take out their anger and racist views against police officers by ambushing and killing them in execution style attacks. This is also a dire trend that must be urgently stopped. It is a reality we are living in the United States and the Dallas Police Department ambush is one of the most disturbing such cases. In this instance, African-American Army veteran Micah Xavier Johnson decided to target and kill “white police officers” on July 7, 2016. By the end of the standoff in the early hours of July 8, fourteen people had been shot, including two civilians, and four Dallas PD officers and one DART officer were dead. This was the biggest loss for law enforcement in a single incident since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, and the tragedy reminds us that racial divisions between law enforcement and the community cannot be sustained, for the good of either entity.

I was honored to be the Director of Criminal Intelligence for InterPort Police, at the time, during the October 2016 IACP event in San Diego, CA at the 9/11 Awards. At this event, officers from the Dallas PD and DART were awarded the International Public Safety Medal (IPM), posthumously, for “Conscious Gallantry and Intrepidity in Action at the Risk of their Own Life and Beyond the Call of Duty.”1 Additionally, officers and command from Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Orlando, and Boston were also honored in that event. The 9/11 Annual Awards by InterPort Police are always a cause

1

“9/11 Medal,” Interportpolice, accessed February 19, 2017, https://www.interportpolice.org/9-11-ipmhonourees.

© Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 8/80

for reflection about what police officers do every day and what seems to be an increasing number every year of officers that are killed in the line of duty.

Therefore, there are arguments from many different, but often complementary, sides that want real change in policing. This represents a common denominator that should be explored in future research and put into practice at the highest level. This research is just one of these more pragmatic and holistic options that bring the community, local government, and policing together in an authentic and sustainable partnership, and different kind of positive relationship rooted in communication, transparency, and accountability.

Statement of the Problem While many police departments in the U.S. have improved their services based around integrity and fairness, there nonetheless remain those that are suffering some serious institutional challenges in race relations. It is possible that these two groups can benefit with this research and obtain insights not found in previous research. In other words, the “Customer Experience,” when a police officer or staff encounter the public, even in situations in which the person in question is facing arrest or situations in which the use of force is necessary, must be crafted not based on the race of the person, but on the professionalism of the officer(s) in question. This is a mind shift in how police officers perceive not only minorities, but also the public at large that they deal with during their shift and their entire career (i.e. the Peelian Principles for an ethical police force).

Another challenge observed during this research comes from the top of the chain of command in police departments and which can be easily fixed. Civilian managers, elected officials, and command must install programs for these officers to become professionals. They must encourage police officers to seek continuing education, specialized training, and advanced degrees. Police careers must be opportunities for police officers to be developed continuously and systematically into professionals, so that when they clock their 20 years, these officers have advanced degrees and they are ready to live a new phase of their lives. I am a living proof of that by obtaining a law degree and master’s degree during my time in the Bensenville Police Department. Even when I did not ask for reimbursement, I had the right environment to support my advanced education and many times that is all that is required.

The reality is that too many police departments simply ensure that their respective officers complete basic police academy training and some specialized modules for niche areas during their 20-year careers. These same police departments provide zero incentives for these officers to seek advanced education and professional degrees. A police officer that obtains higher education always contributes back to the department and that premise must be internalized in every police department, regardless of size or relative capabilities.

Dealing with narrow mindsets, racism, and mediocrity inside police departments can be changed with education and training. It is no secret that education changes © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 9/80

worldviews and creates ecosystems in which police professionals can thrive and build solid, long lasting, and fulfilling careers. Inside the exemplary police departments, the people they are serving are treated with respect and dignity and police officers are perceived as law enforcement professionals and citizens, alike. Officers internalize that they are there to make sure the perception from the public of their motto of “Serve and Protect” actually means something in practice. Nevertheless, there is still a significant gap between these exemplary departments that standout to be phenomenal and the departments that negatively fill the news and social media feeds on a regular basis. This research attempts to provide some solutions to the challenges in policing and community relations, while also producing substantively measurable results in crime prevention and reduction in violent crimes.

Working Hypotheses A. When building relationships with members of the community, it is important to group them by their common interests. This creates virtual communities with their own ecosystems, for which interaction can be specifically tailored.

B. Minorities in the community have their own particular needs that must be addressed with different approaches than the community in general, especially if they experience higher levels of crime.

C. Outreach is an activity that serves multiple purposes. It helps in creating a closer, transparent relationship with high degrees of accountability—in which both sides hold one another mutually accountable.

D. Communication between police and community becomes multi-channeled and multidimensional as well as multilingual. Crowdsourcing and seeking assistance requires an open communication. This is crucial for obtaining information, police calls to 9-1-1, and actionable intelligence.

E. Measuring results reflected in crime prevention generated activity by the community, lower levels of crime, is necessary for the most efficient allocation and deployment of resources.

F. Generating opportunities and creating synergies for non-government and government organizations to interact with the community is an important component of the holistic approach to a healthy and prosperous community. A primary intention inside this possibility is to improve the Quality of Life (QOL) of the poor in communities.

Significance of the Study In 2010, the variable that was the most challenging in this research initially was to determine how best to increase cooperation with the Latino community and increase their trust with the police department in the Village of Bensenville. Bensenville has approximately 19,000 people, located on the western and southern side of Chicago © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 10/80

O’Hare International Airport (ORD). ORD ranks number 6 worldwide in passenger traffic.2 Approximately 52% of the community is Hispanic according to recent US Census data. Additionally, the industrial park in Bensenville is connected with the industrial parks of Wood Dale and Elk Grove Village, Illinois. Elk Grove Village actually has one of the largest continuous industrial parks in the world. As the result of the industrial parks, there is a high demand of low-skilled labor. Hispanic immigrants living in parts of Bensenville from Mexico and Guatemala supply a ready workforce to meet the demands of these businesses located in the industrial parks. The economic variable in this research in reducing crime, while providing a ready and able workforce to the businesses became an integral part of the research. There is no research that covers that economic variable.

As the result of this initial phase of the research, in February 2011, the Bensenville Chamber of Commerce hosted a breakfast networking event with the Bensenville Police Department and members of the board of Consejo Nacional de Atención al Migrante de Guatemala (CONAMIGUA). Executive Secretariat Alejandra Gordillo introduced some of the benefits of improving the QOL of immigrants. Gordillo suggested to the government of Bensenville and the Bensenville Chamber of Commerce to work in ways to bring inclusion into the equation. Secretariat Gordillo also recommended the implementation of recreational activities to improve the health of the immigrants in Bensenville and reduce alcohol abuse. The chamber talked about the fact that Hispanics in Bensenville largely buy local produce and goods, which facilitates an economic incentive for the local economy and provides tax revenue for the government.

The business community in Bensenville had a great amount of interest in working with the community in general and, in particular, Latinos living in Bensenville, since they also serve as a workforce for their constituents. Director of the Bensenville Chamber of Commerce, Peter Gallagher, (President at the time of the release of this research), assisted in hosting health clinics that served, in one weekend event, 2500 residents of Bensenville and its adjacent communities. Mr. Gallagher along with then Trustee Oronzo Peconio, (now Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce & President of District 100) helped the Bensenville Police Department launch the first soccer league in the winter of 2010, and in 2011, with the technical assistance of Secretariat Gordillo, the first summer league was launched. Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Peconio also assisted in outreach and inclusion opportunities. They introduced Mexican music and folkloric dancing during the Fourth of July Parade. They also assisted the Bensenville Police Department in bringing the Consulates of Mexico and Guatemala to host mobile consulates and served thousands of people each time.

Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Peconio assisted in bringing the U-Visa Program for victims of crimes in Bensenville. For a decade, the Bensenville Police Command had declined all these requests. From the start, they were partners in this research from

2

“List of Busiest Airports by Passenger Traffic.” Wikipedia, February 20, 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_busiest_airports_by_passenger_traffic&oldid=76644749 6.

© Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 11/80

2010 to the end on 2016, and continue to make Bensenville as a community better everyday. While beyond the scope of this research, it is important to highlight that Hispanics began to explore politics as well. Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Peconio along with Trustee Frank DeSimone assisted in electing the first Latina Trustee Rosa Carmona in 2015. Trustee Carmona became the first Latina to serve in the history of Bensenville.

She is part of the same political party of Trustee Frank DeSimone. Members and leadership of the business community went far above and beyond in their inclusion efforts.

Mr. Gallagher and Mr. Peconio continue to be instrumental in improving the Quality of Life for everyone in Bensenville. Now, this research returns to the discussion of the other variables and its broader significance to the field. It is possible to argue that inclusion has served well to maintain the lowest levels of crime possible—a mission of the Bensenville Police Department—when it is analyzed without the other two components. Inclusion has a lot of Collaboration in its framework and it is multidimensional. Since inclusion requires political capital in many cases, it is important to acknowledge the people who assisted in this research in making inclusion possible the four years of this research. Technically, in the first two years, 2010 and 2011, there was no real purpose for conducting a complete research and model. It became clear after taking the “Self-Expression and Leadership” seminar at Landmark Education that required a project to be launched and researched to impact a community.3 The seminar concluded and a purpose for the research was created.

One final note on inclusion is that it requires a lot of political backing and political capital. Throughout the duration of this research, many times the administration had a lot of reservations in doing anything that appeared to favor one side or the other. While challenging at times, it was possible to navigate the obstacles that came out during the research with the help of community members, such as Mr. Gallagher, Mr. Peconio, and many others. CPC Vargas also learned more importantly ways to figure out how to “work around” these often-encountered political obstacles in inclusion activities. The challenge for anyone venturing into inclusion is likely going to be setting the boundaries on how much and how deep this component needs to travel into the political world.

Lastly, the practical elected official(s) at the top of the food chain, who are able to take advantage of the relationships inclusion fosters, can assure a grassroots support for political goals—especially during time for re-election.

Another significant discovery in year one of this initiative was that the traditional Neighborhood Watch Program where people launch them and maintain them, was impossible to maintain in Bensenville. The alternative was to build a virtual, communitywide program where the connection was directly with the Crime Prevention

3

“Self-Expression and Leadership Training Program - Landmark Worldwide,” accessed February 23, 2017, http://www.landmarkworldwide.com/advanced-programs/self-expression-and-leadershipprogram.

© Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 12/80

Unit and had nothing to do with the leadership in these groups. This also removed politics from the equation and the need to fix problems between the participants. It is important to highlight that, on October 2009, Bensenville had two traditional Neighborhood Watch groups. By the time of this research, there were 55 different virtual groups and they required no work from the members of the community and caused zero headaches with their respective political differences. An additional observation from day one was the expectation in this relationship between the community and the police would have a strong foundation on communication. The Crime Prevention Unit began to promote the ideas of doing just three things: Observe, Hear and Report. This variable simplified the interaction and reporting to the police. It also clarified the limits of what people would do and remove any ideas of becoming a Vigilante in Bensenville.

When isolating and analyzing conflict resolution during crime prevention calls, especially during Domestic Trouble calls, it was possible, to identity how officers solve these domestic related issues. In this area, the Bensenville Police Department showed an excellent track record of accomplishment in these four years of solving these issues in one visit. In a very small number of occasions, the interaction or following interaction after the first visit with the same parties resulted in an arrest. Conflict and crisis resolution outside the area of domestic issues with the help of the police department was a significant part of reducing crime, as well. This included the assistance of social services, human services, and other available forms of assistance, following the police interaction. The Crime Prevention Unit (or whatever title is used in other police departments) must review calls of service that involve conflicts and follow up with the people in order to offer some of the services that are available, such as counseling and conflict resolution measures.

While large cities obtain funding for many programs, municipal governments the size of Bensenville do not obtain funding for many programs that oftentimes are needed in making holistic crime prevention gains. In other words, the funding to have specialists, such as fulltime social services or human services is nearly or completely impossible—but they are needed, nonetheless. Many times during the research, such opportunities were discovered for organizations with funding to join forces with the Village of Bensenville to provide or offer services to the community—even by means of filling in some of the gaps that fell outside their respective domain of responsibilities. If the CPC position in Bensenville, for instance, did not network with government and nongovernment agencies, these opportunities would have been systematically missed or overlooked. It is important to note that the research revealed that, not only can there be extraordinary, effective, and self-sustaining partnerships between and among the community, the police department, and other relevant government and nongovernmental agencies, but also there can be synergies that ignite additional opportunities and possibilities for all stakeholders at all levels.

The need for a reduction of crime as primary objective of this study was reached in a sustainable manner, after the second year of the research program. While the police culture was untouched, units were created to support the initiatives of the police department. It is a no-win situation in starting a confrontation with the police union and bringing the institutional hurdles with different shifts, work politics, and trying to bring the Š Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 13/80

word “Change” into the equation. Bring one small unit qualified to build the bases of the initiative and stay away from interfering with the underlying police culture in the first two years. The high degrees of accountability and transparency also began to hold the activities/actions and attitudes of the officers to a higher level. Community engagement during events began to make advancement into a more Community Oriented Policing (COP) Model, as cooperation by and with the community became consistent, systematic, and part of their daily interactions.

Race relations between the Hispanic communities and law enforcement also improved when the police department increased its efforts in equitable crime prevention, outreach, and inclusion. Most significant was the decrease in crime in the four apartment complexes that were generating the most calls of service involving public disorder, violence, and arrests, as the relationship improved. Significantly, these four complexes today enjoy the lowest levels of crime and no gang activity. There nonetheless remain gang members living in Bensenville but they are largely not committing systematic violence, crime, or engaging in gang turf wars that facilitate further criminal activity by means of negative externalities, in which civilians too often get caught in the crosshair. The cooperation and collaboration of the residents in these four apartment complexes has resulted in decreasing crime over 90% when compared to years before the initiative was implemented. Many residents cooperate and call 9-1-1 when they see something and others collaborate and become more active participants by educating and consistently assisting neighbors on crime prevention activities, while also taking part in other relevant activities, such as literacy and after-school programs offered by DuCap. Latinos there want to work with the police department and are not afraid of talking to them… even taking selfies from time to time, so as to facilitate online greater awareness of the benefits with working alongside law enforcement for the holistic good of the community, in question.

At this juncture, it is important to highlight that police departments are challenged in a daily basis to deliver a better service with less funding and more public scrutiny outside of official institutional safeguards. Not many police departments in the U.S. today enjoy the benefits of expenditures to do everything they want to do or need to do in order to accomplish both preventative and reactive law enforcement. It is possible that this research can reveal for some police departments that shifting focus and implementing simple programs from the bottom up could produce results without increasing personnel or funding (i.e. the question of “quality over quantity”). Many times people just assume that bringing additional police personnel is the solution to the crime problems in their cities and communities. Actually, Quality of Life and economic opportunities, as well as education, can be equally as important as traditional public safety—and often results in more effective and efficient measures of crime prevention.

Strictly higher levels of public safety, on the other hand, cannot be achieved when criminals are running rampant and their activities are left unchecked by a negative relationship between the community and law enforcement.

When elected officials and police command decide that there is a need to take the relationship between their police department and the entire community to a higher level of systematic cooperation and collaboration, this research provides some © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 14/80

alternatives to their existing programs. A border city for example may use this research to launch a program that promotes National Security and forms a relationship with people to report safe houses for organized crime, human smuggling, money laundering, gun trafficking, and other more serious transnational criminal activities. This research also revealed that it is possible to implement the model in a single division dealing with Community Relations and Intelligence as an underlying purpose. It is recommended that the use of the word intelligence not be used, as Hispanics and people in Europe, the Middle East and Africa associate the word with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) or oppressive, and sometimes corrupt, state security agencies of their native countries. This considered, the potential applications of this research are unlimited.

The significance of this research is that it seeks to test and improve, as well as introduce a new component into a complicated set of variables in a police department, but it does not require a broader change to the police culture within the U.S. In this case, this research began with a crackdown on crime as the underlying objective and it later began to take shape into a more complex assortment of programs—that still facilitate the initial objectives of crime reduction—but this project went beyond that.

During the research, different pieces of the initiative were installed, modified, and some eliminated. The relationships among the community, police, and local government began to transform into a program focused on improving the Quality of Life for everyone and not simply as community-oriented policing program.

Research Design and Methodology This research employs a mixed-method framework in a qualitative and quantitative design and methodology to produce analysis in the areas that can be observed and areas that can be measured. While it was possible to use designs and methodology more aligned to traditional criminal justice, this research focused more in the social sciences, than the application of the law, criminal justice, and administration of justice or criminology. This is a departure from traditional research models that suggest that, when working with police, reform and/or researching policing models in the U.S. criminal justice is the recommended research design theory. It is important to note by gathering the empirical data for four years, and providing the quantitative analysis, it was possible to observe the sustainability of the programs researched. In years 2010 and 2011, the focus was very much into policing modeling. The following four years in this research—years 2013 to 2016—the objectives became clearer and the shift took place into a holistic approach where QOL for the residents became the systemic focus.

This research was built on the premise that crime prevention, outreach, and inclusion of members of the entire community can bring a lot of more cooperation and collaboration with law enforcement. At the onset of the research, it was clear that the highest concentration of calls for service to the police department and most crimes were concentrated in areas in which minorities were residing. In this case, Hispanics immigrants in Bensenville were the ones dealing with the higher degrees of criminal activity. Gathering calls for service and verified cases became a process much easier than anticipated early in the research. Thus, measuring improvement in the crime © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 15/80

prevention participation from these apartment complexes was the more straightforward part of the research. An uptick in alcohol-related arrests, for example, occurred on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, in these four complexes. Violence was more prevalent Friday and Saturday. As the result of that information, a recreational soccer league was launched to include adults and in that summer a 90% decrease in alcohol related arrests immediately took place in the summer of 2012. A section will be provided on the four apartment complexes that cover data from 2013-2016.

Additionally, Bensenville is just shy of 19,000 people. The four apartment complexes that had the biggest impact in crime reduction also endured high degrees of segregation. Some of the apartment complexes had mostly Guatemalan immigrants that largely originated from the Huehuetenango region by Chiapas, Mexico. They had strong familial ties and maintained a significant portion of their Mayan cultural roots and customs, while living in Bensenville. In terms of the demographics from Mexican immigrants in Bensenville, residents are predominately from the state of Guerrero. They are concentrated in some of the multifamily buildings and scattered all over Bensenville, as their migration into the Village dates back to the 1950s, as is the case for the Guatemalan immigrants.

The only significant social difference between these two communities in Bensenville is that those of the Guatemalan community are mostly considered under the label of “migrants.” Migrants, as opposed to immigrants, do not seek to assimilate and learn English, like most of the Mexican immigrants in Bensenville, who view their transition to be more permanent. A higher proportion of the former are also illiterate.

The Guatemalan migrants are the bulk of the undocumented community in Bensenville and the youngest, when compared to the Mexican immigrant community. The lack of recreational weekend activities correlated with the higher numbers of police calls for service, violence, arrests, and public disorder cases, especially during the summer.

With the variants in demographics inside the 52% of the Hispanic residents in Bensenville, it was possible to find means to increase social cohesion and participation among these communities to bring alternative means for recreation and social interaction with each other.

Isolating, measuring, and analyzing the metrics of the calls for police service, while implementing the different programs to address the cause and effect of community behavior, is at the center of this research. For certain criminal behavior and public disorder, the research is able to employ an inductive data analysis to build on the patterns, processes, and variables in the research. While it is common for policing to employ a criminal justice theory during research, this research focuses and contributes to the social exploratory research method and design. It also utilizes a grounded theory methodology. It groups the different data and turns concepts that lead to better crime prevention and community oriented policing philosophies into easy to implement policy prescriptions for real-world issues. Insights are also provided in order to better understand the four years’ worth of research.

© Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 16/80

Literature Review

In order to highlight the Traditional Policing Model, a recent article published by The Raw Story, titled Report: Israeli model underlines militarization of U.S. Police, by Muriel Kane explains how the militarization of law enforcement in the U.S. is a trend being modeled on other countries’ internal policies and strategies of law enforcement— in this particular case, Israel.4 Kane explains that police departments in the U.S. are adopting the Israeli method of aggressive and ruthless suppression tactics and states that the New York Police Department has not only adopted Israeli programs but now works with Israel closely in other to develop their police departments into a “militaryintelligence apparatus.”5 The traditional police model provides a false sense of security.

The moment the citizen has the first encounter with the police, a perception of law enforcement broadly takes a different turn from safety and respect to fear and oppression. This model is very costly and trust in police forces from the community diminishes quickly. Evidence reveals that this is neither an effective or sustainable method of law enforcement.

In the paper entitled Policing in the United States: Developing a Comprehensive Empirical Model, by L. Edward Wells and David N. Falcone, the authors discuss the community-oriented policing model and provide a complete research analysis on this model in the U.S. and its shortcomings and limitations while being implemented.6 Wells and Falcone performed an analysis and narrowed the premises of this model to three concepts: (1) structural; (2) contextual or Open Systems; and (3) universal premise.7 After the extensive research that covered small to large police departments adopting this model, the authors came up to several conclusions—the police departments vary their implementations of alternative police models and they concluded that using these different premises failed to produce any meaningful or significant results.8 This contributes yet further evidence that there is no standard in any police model and that, in most contexts, measuring crime reduction is nearly impossible for many departments.

In the program designed by the Bureau of Justice Assistance entitled Intelligence-Led Policing: The New Intelligence Architecture, by Marilyn Peterson, the newest police model was designed with the help of some of the brightest minds in law enforcement in the post-9/11 era. Peterson writes, “effective intelligence operations can be applied equally well to terrorist threats and crimes in community, homeland security and local crime prevention are not mutually exclusive.9 Officers ‘on the beat’ are an

4

“Report: Israeli Model Underlies Militarization of U.S. Police.” Accessed February 17, 2017. https://www.rawstory.com/2011/12/report-israeli-model-underlies-militarization-of-u-s-police/.

5 Ibid.

6 Wells, L. Edward and David N. Falcone. “Policing in the United States: Developing a Comprehensive Empirical Model.” U.S. Department of Justice Fund. August 2005. Document number 210830. Accessed February 17, 2017.

7 Ibid.

8 Ibid.

9 Peterson, Marilyn. “Intelligence-Led Policing: The New Intelligence Architecture.” U.S. Department of Justice Programs Bureau of Justice Assistance. September 2005. NCJ 210681. Accessed on February 17, 2017. © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 17/80

excellent resource for gathering information of all kinds of threats.”10 The program consolidates two programs of the COP models as well as the need to obtain actionable intelligence from the community. When a journalist discovered the NYPD and CIA were running the program, it highlighted some significant flaws when the activities moved to towards espionage against targeted communities, rather than equitable and respectful law enforcement consistent with the Peelian Principles. Intelligence is crucial in public safety, to make police and their counterparts in social services to be distributed as effectively and efficiently as possible. This model fails to see the instrumental value of cooperation and collaboration from their community—especially among minority groups.

Privatization of police activities is something being explored in the United Kingdom. In article by The Economist Online published on July 2, 2012, entitled “The thinning blue line,” discusses how controversial the privatization of some policing activities in the UK. The article details how Lincolnshire hired G4S private security personnel to provide civilian police services. In April 2012, a total a 575 civilian police staff were transferred to the private company.11 The article also discusses how budget cuts is changing how policing is conceptualized and implemented and that the private sector can use specialty skills they have and bring efficiencies into the police department not typically found or nurtured in the public sector.12 This is a new concept in its approach to law enforcement. The U.S. is watching closely as police departments encounter their own expenditure problems and seek solutions. The author writes, “Police numbers do, in some circumstances, matter.”13 Critics of this approach claim the services are not the same or that this could be the way to open the door for private patrol and other sworn services. There is not been enough research on the concept and it requires more thorough and dedicated analysis.

In an article by The Atlantic published on May 28, 2015, entitled “How to Fix a Broken Police Department,” Alana Semuels talks about police reforms in Cincinnati, Ohio, after scandals involving police shootings—in this case, specifically, the killing of Timothy Thomas, a 19-year-old unarmed black man, who was the fifteenth black man to die at the hands of police in five years.14 People began to protest and throw stones and beer bottles at police officers and the police perception was very negative for its alleged racial bias—most particularly against the African-American. Police Chief Tom Streicher (1999 to 2011) stated that he believed the police relationship with the communities was good, but that he admitted that it was, in his view, a superficial relationship.15 Another challenge they faced was regarding police reform negotiations that lasted over 10 years without any significant results.16 While many police departments are facing relationship challenges with their communities, they still refuse to adopt institutional reforms to be

10

Ibid.

“The Thinning Blue Line.” The Economist, July 2, 2012. http://www.economist.com/blogs/blighty/2012/07/policing-britain.

12 Ibid.

13 Ibid.

14 Semuels, Alana. “How to Fix a Broken Police Department.” The Atlantic, May 28, 2015. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/05/cincinnati-police-reform/393797/.

15 Ibid.

16 Ibid.

11

© Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 18/80

implemented at the lowest common denominator by frontline officers. It is possible that the officers can create the real change by proposing ideas, and creating possibilities organically in an institution that encourages and nurtures such seemingly disruptive innovation.

A more recent movement is to shift into a more Problem-Oriented Policing model.

The Center for Problem-Oriented Policing has been compiling significant resources into this more innovative policing model that extracts best practices from the business sector. Professor Herman Goldstein writes about this concept in saying, “Problemoriented policing places a high value on new responses that are preventative in nature, that are not dependent on the use of criminal justice system.”17 The center has established a significant pool of researchers, and police officers involved in finding best practices and ways to yet further improve the model. In their guide, entitled “Effective Policing and Crime Prevention: A Problem-Oriented Guide for Mayors, City Managers, and County Executives,” it outlines a wide number of policing models and philosophies.18 Outside the CPTED approach, however, this research found only a small number of applications that could be implemented in Bensenville.

Analysis and Findings As a mixed-method report involving Qualitative and Quantitative methods, the first section will include the qualitative research, followed by the quantitative—providing a comprehensive analysis and holistic insight in the four years’ of crime data. On 2010, the newly formed position in the police department called Crime Prevention Coordinator (CPC) was tasked with creating a Comprehensive Crime Prevention Initiative. After hosting several outreach events at the local St. Alexis Catholic Church and other venues, a report was compiled and it was later furnished to the Village Manager, Chief of Police, and Village President with policy-driven recommendations for all relevant stakeholders.

Many of the complaints that were gathered during the outreach had to do with policing practices of the previous administration—which, for instance, included constant road safety checks that resulted in Latinos being disproportionally stopped and many times arrested. Another significant complaint was requiring a valid driver’s license to obtain a village sticker for their vehicles. People without a valid village sticker were receiving tickets—some of them several a month—for failing to display a sticker. This was causing people to move to other towns and, for those who remained, brought about a corresponding decrease in the desire to cooperate with frontline officers enforcing such policies.

Code enforcement practices were also a source of complaints even from a local priest, who at times would go to the Village Hall or the Police Department to try to work

17

“Center for Problem-Oriented Policing | About CPOP.” Accessed February 20, 2017. http://www.popcenter.org/about/?p=whatiscpop.

18 Ibid. © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 19/80

things out with members of his parish. The trust between the Latino communities was very low, as they saw policing as a force to be feared and a day-to-day source of constant harassment. Due to time constraints, CPC Vargas could only work 2 to 3 days a week until July 2011, when he was offered a full-time position. Even with the fact that CPC Vargas was working only part-time, the information interaction with the community was constant.

The initial phase of the outreach, CPC Vargas explained that going into a house during a knock around crime—a scenario encountered often by frontline officers—were very young Latino children crying hysterically when the uniformed officer would approach the door. These scenes were disheartening and demoralizing for the officer in question, with such a perception being shared on many occasions with others in the community. Small children assumed that police were there to take someone to jail. The experiences were discomforting, but they were also a significant catalyst in driving this research to the next level.

Initially, the purpose of the research was to find ways to improve the relationship between the police and the community at large, but especially the Hispanic community, which disproportionately experienced much higher rates of crime and violence. Children were clearly affected, as well, with the harsh policing practices. During the outreach efforts in all K-12 classrooms, such trends began to change. The factors of crime reduction and crime prevention were secondary in nature. The most important priority was relationship and trust building among all relevant stakeholders in the community by law enforcement. In other words, the creation of a Community Oriented Policing model was important, but more important both intrinsically and instrumentally was to find ways to turn the existing relationship with the community from institutionally nonexistent into a world of possibilities and self-sustaining potential. The main goal was to create something that could generate a bundle of possibilities with the new relationship that include crime prevention, inclusion, and outreach as the main drivers of the new dynamic between law enforcement and the broader community.

Š Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 20/80

Key Components of the Comprehensive Crime Prevention Initiative Crime prevention became a common goal for police and the broader community to sustainably and effectively get rid of criminals from their blocks, apartment buildings, and Bensenville at large.

KEY COMPONENTS OF THE INITIATIVE

Crime Prevention

Outreach

Inclusion

Based on the three components of the initiative, it was then determined that there were definite pools or groups of people that could generate Inclusion from the Hispanic community. Within the inclusion part of the initiative, it also served to bring Hispanics to communitywide events and to encourage comfort and respectful, positive interaction among other races. Many Latinos used to shy away from these events because they felt as if they were not part of the community. Inclusion also helped Latinos assimilate into the community by attending after-school activities, meeting their neighbors who are not Latino during block barbecues, summer picnics, and tenant appreciation events. The Neighborhood Watch monthly meetings, the Kiwanis Day of Service, National Night Out, Fourth of July celebration, Music in the Park, fundraisers, and other opportunities helped the process as well, both as an end unto itself and also a facilitator of a positivefeedback loop that sustainably encouraged such relationships to continually grow into the future among stakeholders.

At the time of the launching of the comprehensive initiative, the residents in four apartment complexes had little real opportunities in terms of recreation, entertainment, adult education, health, self-improvement, after-school programing, assistance with homework, and any form of involvement or participation with the local government. As the result of not having the means for recreation, males in these four apartment Š Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 21/80

complexes consumed a significant amount of alcohol and were the generators of most of the disorder, crime, and violence in these buildings.

For Bensenville, it was a new concept of opening up to everyone regardless of race and to serve all community stakeholders with the same level of ethical service.

This required a commitment from the police department to be accessible, accountable, and become transparent like never before. The accountability factor began to take shape, as monthly meetings also became opportunities for people to share perceptions, shortcomings, experiences, and best practices for further improvement. The people in the community knew that the following month, command would report results on their complaints in a public forum, thus holding the police accountable and fostering a direct dynamic between law enforcement and other citizens of the community (a fundamental precept of the Peelian Principles for an ethical police force). Holding monthly meetings, alone, however, was not in itself sufficient. Also not sufficient in terms of outreach was to just go to the local churches and schools in order to network with citizens. The comprehensive crime prevention initiative needed a more coordinated and comprehensive effort with a component of Outreach. The Community Oriented Policing Division would find and encourage any such opportunities to meet people. This simplified and streamlined the outreach efforts.

The outreach efforts included an sustained enrollment program that explained the new division and its sought-after direction. Similar to a membership, joining one of the programs would give the members “access of direct communication” with the police department and exchange for their cooperation and collaboration. The business cards of the CPC had a cell phone, a direct line, and an email address. The idea of a 9:005:00 format of job quickly diminished when over 10,000 residents had the CPC business card. Another way CPC explained the benefits was that it was a kind of concierge or customer service division dedicated to the membership of the several crime prevention groups. Of course, calls requiring immediate response still had to be handled by a 9-1-1 operator, along with all suspicious activity reports.

This offering to a community was unprecedented, as the cell phone, text messages, social media contacts, and emails began to flow at all hours of the day and night. When the community began to receive responses—in most cases immediately— they became convinced of the benefits of the program. Chief Kosman had already been very accessible to the community by the time the program was launched, but this initiative took communication to another level bilingually in Spanish and English, alike. It was not unusual for someone to call the CPC and then the Chief of Police, if the CPC would not answer for whatever reason. People to this day came to appreciate the relationship they had with the CPC, the Chief of Police, and the members of the Directed Patrol Division.

CPC Vargas writes, “My personal life from 2010 to 2012 was shared with calls from the community in the middle of the night to make reports of occurrences of all kinds of crimes and a few times serious violent crimes. It took time to train everyone to © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 22/80

dial 9-1-1. We printed these instructions in every piece of promotional and awareness materials, including our monthly bilingual crime prevention newsletter.” What exactly is expected from these crime prevention groups is one of the questions the CPC gets on a regular basis. The expectation from the police department is very simple. In return for this access and their own customer service department, the police would like members to Observe, Hear, and Report to the police all forms of suspicious activity. These three words are printed in everything that is sent or published.

It is important to note that one of the concerns of this initiative was to be able to duplicate, replicate, clone, or copy in other cities, but nonetheless consider contextuallysensitive circumstances, such as race composition in communities, prior experiences with law enforcement, and existing police infrastructure and communication mediums.

By the end of 2016, it was determined that initiative or program was fully duplicable and it could be implemented not only in different cities facing high incidences of violence and racial tensions, but also in places such as border communities, residential buildings with thousands of occupants, college and universities, airports, and seaports—to just name a few possibilities On April 2010, the Bensenville Police Department launched the ORD Airport Watch Program. This crime prevention program has a strong national security component.19 A research paper spin-off was completed in 2013 that includes a program for the border. It is available under Law Enforcement Only setting—just email the researcher on the cover page. Now it is time to breakdown each one of the components of the comprehensive crime prevention initiative.

I. The Outreach Part of the Initiative The initial phase of the Outreach effort was launched in partnership with Chief Frank Kosman and the CPC. The goal was to network with everyone in Bensenville and talk about the initiative. One of the first challenges was the merging of the crime prevention efforts by the police department and community liaison position. These two positions became part of the newly formed Community Oriented Policing Division. A Sergeant and an officer would act as undercover officers (also tactical) to handle any gang and drug investigations. They were also a visible team during community events hosted by the Village of Bensenville. The CPC became the point of contact for all the programs created, as well as the customer service department for non-9-1-1 emergency calls. While many of the community liaison activities were adopted by the CPC, a few of them were later separated by the village hall to be handled by a person in Community Development Division.

The overall mission for the Community Oriented Policing Division absorbed crime prevention and most of the community liaison activities by the end of the first few months after its creation and merger. The CPC had to manage the relationships with the

19

“ORD Airport Watch.” Accessed February 21, 2017. http://ordairportwatch.org/.

© Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 23/80

community, including businesses (limited to crime prevention) and low-income minority residents. In addition, the CPC had to refer out tips and requests to other police divisions, simply because it was impossible to allocate the necessary time to effectively pursue any and all investigation. People with different human services needs had to be referred also to specialized organizations that could fill these needs. This included issues with homelessness, healthcare, childcare-related issues, housing, code enforcement, social services, and even mental health related cases.

This was one of the downsides of the merger that many of the calls had nothing to do with policing and a lot to do with problems more related to human services. One of these calls was received during a winter night from a resident who stated that a woman with three small children was outside the church asking for a place to sleep. The woman told the person who called the CPC that her husband had been beating her and she had escaped. Depending on how large the town or city is, it is possible to create a CPC position with a task force of social services and human services. It appears these activities are usually interacting with each other very often and a task force could handle these needs more appropriately. In most cases, smaller towns are not able to create the task force, because of funding and personnel issues.

II. The Crime Prevention Part of the Initiative While the Outreach efforts and the Crime Prevention part of the initiative were for the entire Village of Bensenville, early into the project it was discovered that the Inclusion efforts for the Hispanic community required a more customized and tailored approach, in order to be most effective. Meeting the Hispanic community required that the CPC to perform outreach efforts inside St. Alexis Catholic Church. In this church, the attendance of Hispanics during Saturday and Sunday services is significant. Other venues included parent club meetings at the local schools, employment agencies, and companies in the industrial park, as well as other popular public events.

Crime prevention is largely not something with which Latinos grow up and see over the course of their daily lives. Hispanic immigrants all over the U.S. typically experience a significant fear of informing the police what they see or reporting criminal activity. In their minds, police forces are often a state instrument of repression and hostility toward them. It readily became clear that Hispanic outreach, crime prevention, and inclusion had to be directed in spaces in which Hispanic residents were found. This was crucial during the first two years of the program (years 2010 and 2011). The summer soccer league was also important for the comprehensive crime prevention initiative because hundreds of people, including children and young adults, could be found during the weekend playing soccer. The police car was always employed as a background for pictures with children and adults. Posting these pictures in their social media also helped to highlight the relationship with the police, especially if they would request the CPC to stand in uniform next to them.

An insight in this research was that if all the relationship could procure is cooperation from a person or family within the community, the objective had been Š Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 24/80

accomplished. The next step was to try to elevate stakeholders to a much higher level in the relationship—collaboration. Such a measure is actually working in a self-sustaining partnership effort for a common goal, in which people actually take effective and proactive ownership of their respective block, apartment complex, and city in partnership with law enforcement as citizens of those neighborhoods, as well. This also helps to draw volunteers into other activities and encourage citizen participation in second and third order externalities. In this research, participants in the community are offered both options whenever possible, yet some people in the community would settle with just calling the police if they saw something, in order to avoid getting too involved with law enforcement. Crime prevention also required working on turning around the negative perception of the police department—this required a lot of listening to all involved stakeholders and their experiences—whether positive or negative—and, as such, involved receiving a significant number of insults during the first few months of the initiative.

III. The Inclusion Part of the Initiative In the worst-case scenario during the first year and a half of the research, CPC Vargas could have implemented only the two parts of this initiative and it would have largely worked in attaining the desired results. There was no expectation that an additional component be added to the comprehensive crime prevention initiative. When the factor of Inclusion was introduced to complement the two existing factors, it appeared the elected officials and command in the police department became reluctant or concerned that these individuals could become politically active. It was later agreed to continue to build this new component into the initiative. The main goal of the administration was that the program be sustainable—they wanted to ensure that, when the time came for the CPC to move on, he could hand the program to someone else in the village or police department in order to build on past successes and not start from scratch or have the program, itself, collapse.

CPC Vargas introduced the new element and began to disengage from certain activities, thereby encouraging such activities to be built up and maintained by the members of the community, themselves. For example, the Bensenville summer soccer league had 300 children playing in 2012. This project of the soccer league was completely outsourced to Liga de Futbol Latinos Unidos, so they could use volunteers from the community to own, manage, and coach the teams. The pride from these parents became a most rewarding experience to observe. Also important was the real pride from these coaches, who, in the past, had to be merely observers and not part of the development of their respective teams. Children and parents were all involved in practice during the week, because even when it was a recreational league, it was highly competitive. Most of the 50-70 volunteers had their own children participating in the program.

As a side note, it is important to recognize the use of collaboration with other government and non-governmental organizations, in order to put projects together. In © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 25/80

the summer soccer league, the Bensenville Police Department and the Bensenville Chamber of Commerce with the assistance of Director Peter Gallagher (Director at the time) took the role of facilitators of this program. In the summer of 2016, this league had about 450 children playing and 300 adults. A female league with 15 teams was also introduced in 2014, in order to improve the health of immigrant women in Bensenville.

Most of the women were from the four apartment buildings previously discussed.

Empowering the community to own some of these volunteering opportunities also became part of the other programs that were launched in 2010. The ORD Airport Watch Program had its own board of directors. The board and the membership would interact in a regular basis with law enforcement at Chicago O’Hare International Airport and the Bensenville Police Department, in most cases, in very positive ways.

Initially all the inclusion and empowerment in the community was viewed by the administration and some elected officials as a potential obstacle, if these groups were to become active in politics. However, there was no grassroots built up for that. In fact, the design of the groups did not have the necessary coordination to jump into an election or push for someone to be elected to a public post. It was observed some political activity with some politicians took place during the research, but it was not as predominant as in other cities in which groups are formed for explicit political purposes. In other words, the crime prevention groups lacked the organizational resources/connectivity to become active in politics. The comprehensive crime prevention initiative was, by design, apolitical, since it was built up inside the police department and managed by frontline officers. It is possible to exploit these groups to get into politics if the groups are managed or co-managed outside the police department, strictly in the hands of civilian personnel. This last observation was not tested or put in practice.

When all three factors/components were in full and sustained thrust, crime prevention, outreach, and inclusion were delivering significant results—so strong that, by the end of 2010, a 50% of overall crime reduction and 70% after the second year had been achieved. These were numbers that got the attention of all relevant stakeholders, including the media and other police departments. Crime Prevention provided a perfect platform to bring Hispanics and Non-Hispanics to work on a common effort to build a safer Bensenville together. Today, the polarization that existed between Hispanics and Non-Hispanics prior to 2010 is virtually non-existent, even with all the political rhetoric in Washington D.C. On 2015, a female Hispanic member of the Neighborhood Watch Program was elected Village Trustee. More remarkable is that Trustee Rosa Carmona is the first Latina ever elected to serve for the government of the Village of Bensenville.

Truly, Trustee Carmona made history.

Now that the three key components have been explained in detail in this research, it is time to review the different crime prevention programs implemented in Bensenville.

Š Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 26/80

Customized Programs Launched The three components of the Comprehensive Crime Prevention Initiative needed to have the people living in Bensenville retail businesses, industrial parks, organizations, schools, airport watch volunteers, and multi-family complexes to be allocated into their own tailored groups. This prompted the CPC to create groups that would have the same or similar needs for crime prevention and information exchange.

Later, some subgroups were also formed such banks, temporary employment agencies, and pharmacies. In addition, the businesses got broken down according to police beat, in order to be consistent with the patrol division. Every group had the word “Watch,” added to its name, since most people are familiar with the Neighborhood Watch concept.

VISUAL CHART OF PROGRAMS DEPLOYED

NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH

CRIME FREE MULTI-HOUSING

BUSINESS WATCH

CRIME PREVENTION OUTREACH INCLUSION

ORD AIRPORT WATCH

ORGANIZATIONS WATCH

STUDENT WATCH

Grouping them facilitated communication with the groups with a common purpose. It is possible to have employed the word “segregate,” but it is loaded terminology. In terms of the Neighborhood Watch Program, for example, not only could the program be broken down by beat, area, building, and complex, but also by languages spoken at home. Since the second language spoke in Bensenville is Spanish, this became the other official language used in most promotional and printed material. The third language after English and Spanish is Polish. All three languages are spoken in the Village Hall to accommodate some of the residents who do not speak © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 27/80

English. English and Spanish are spoken in the police department in order to serve the two main linguistic demographics.

Following the advice of Sgt. Jacques Brunelle, IPM (Ret.), of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the idea was established that businesses by the airport should become very familiar with the members of the ORD Airport Watch Program. This would serve as a separate partnership outside the relationship with the authorities of the airport. Therefore, this was the initial reason of forming a Business Watch Program, in order to maintain these relationships in the industrial park. Sgt. Brunelle always promoted his Airport Watch model as a set of extra “eyes and ears” by typically aviation enthusiasts around airports and people quickly embraced the crime deterrence value of the program. Clearly just like in Ottawa, Canada, the businesses in the industrial park in Bensenville saw the value that the ORD Airport Watch members brought to everyone’s crime prevention efforts.

The following programs are those that were launched in the Village of Bensenville, since 2010: I. Neighborhood Watch Program: This program built to enroll members in the community regardless of race, sex, color, or legal status in the U.S. The primary goal is to bring cooperation and collaboration from the residents and members to call the police department for information and reporting needs. As the trust and relationship grows, the expectation is that the dynamic moves into higher cooperation and later into a more committed stage referred to as collaboration. The resident has the option to choose what level of relationship he or she wants with the police department. The relationships consist of the lowest commitment, in which people call 9-1-1 to report something suspicious, to the person who decides to volunteer and be part of an after school program at the PNRC— which is a more committed relationship of collaboration with the police department.

The Neighborhood Watch Program is the primary program from which all the other programs were created. This program is a customized non-traditional Neighborhood Watch Program. In other words, there are no residents doing patrols, recruiting their neighbors, and holding meetings. The Bensenville program is completely managed by the CPC. This program has the following highlights and offers the following benefits to the members: •

Over 600 households of Neighborhood Watch members and growing. The idea is for everyone in the household to be familiar with the crime prevention program.

•

There are 55 different groups all over the Village of Bensenville. They are non-traditional or virtual Neighborhood Watch groups.

•

No active management of the program by residents. © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 28/80

•

Some neighborhoods host block parties during the summer and the CPC often attends to network and recruit for the Neighborhood Watch.

•

Monthly crime prevention meetings (open to the entire community). The CPC, Chief Frank Kosman, and the members of the Directed Patrol Division host the monthly meetings.

•

During the meetings in Spanish, a member of the Patrol Division is selected by command to be part of the meeting. The requirement is that they speak Spanish.

•

Meetings cover all the crimes that took place in the last 30 days. Explanations from the police presenting at the meetings typically involve a significant amount of detail about community occurrences and to offer tips for crime prevention.

•

There are discussions and presentations on a regular basis about trends and criminal activity.

•

Crime Prevention Seminar invitations is distributed directly by regular mail and are published by the Village and residents.

•

Monthly Crime Prevention Newsletter is sent monthly by regular mail and published by the Village and residents.

•

The meetings starting in 2017, in English on the 3rd Thursday of the month and in Spanish on the last Thursday of the month.

•

A high level of communication with the community is always available and necessary.

•

The police can send emails alerts, Nixle Alerts, crime reports, newsletters, and responses to questions by the community.

•

Social media interaction always takes place and, for the most part, is available. Many times, the CPC responds to questions in a social media by something the Village Hall posted and other times direct requests by the use of messenger.

•

Accessibility to the CPC by members of the 55 different virtual groups is also important. The people in the community can communicate by telephone, email, text, and LinkedIn messenger.

•

Ability to deliver confidential tips on criminal activity to the CPC anytime or the Directed Patrol Division members during meetings.

•

During the meetings in Spanish, the CPC takes the tips and delivers them to the Directed Patrol Division.

•

The program is virtually free of political or other obstacles (99.9%).

•

When an incident or a crime occurs in a particular area, the CPC is able to target members in that area. © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 29/80

•

The CPC also has the ability to employ demographics to target the elderly and provide crime prevention information and crime prevention training.

•

Active enrollment for all the programs takes place in many different ways, including knock around crime and security visits or calls after a crime has occurred.

•

Anonymous communication is always offered to the membership.

•

With a strong protection to the identities of the membership, the residents are not informed about the identities of other members. The only opportunity for members to see each other takes place during monthly meetings.

•

Little or no personal enrollment from residents to avoid the “Snitch Fear” or retaliation from criminals. This makes it hard or nearly impossible for the criminal to point to one resident who may have called the police.

•

High level of feedback and communication with other police units.

•

Follow up regarding cases directly with the CPC without having to come and deal with a member of the Patrol Division. This makes the membership have access to their own designated point of contact. The members view it as a benefit of belonging to the program.

•

Approximately 60 members Neighborhood Watch who are Hispanic from the entire community volunteer during the week and the weekend by coaching and managing the soccer league.

•

This program always draws volunteering opportunities for other projects such as the literacy program, DuCap after school programing, and selfimprovement and leadership development.

This customized virtual neighborhood watch program was designed to correct many of the shortcomings of the traditional neighborhood watch program. Among the biggest problems was the amount of time required for management of the members.

While it is not meant to be a critical statement for all the traditional programs in the country, there are towns and cities where the traditional programs nonetheless work well. In Bensenville, it was just not an effective way to build from two traditional groups to 55 virtual groups, with 600 households. In this first program, it was determined that the best way to build, maintain, and expand the program was to utilize the crime prevention, outreach, and inclusion efforts as the engine of each one of the watch programs detailed in this report.

The underlying activities and programming are always changing and varying to fit the needs of the community. When a police department considers implementing a comprehensive crime prevention initiative, such as that in Bensenville, it is recommended to start with this program first. In some cases the city, airport, or seaport does not have residential housing and the other components of the program that may be installed. Airports and seaports have a lot of potential in terms of groups that can be formed. If there is no residential housing, then it is recommended to implement the first © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 30/80

program that will generate the least amount of resistance by law enforcement. This strategy prevents any early sabotage attempts, which must be expected.

In addition, when the first program is deployed, the additional watch programs can be added and compartmentalized in an effort to isolate any growing pains. The two traditional Neighborhood Watch groups collapsed by internal politics in the summer of 2010. By the time of their collapse, 35 virtual groups had already been formed. While the two traditional groups disappeared, in the conventional sense, their members became part of their own new virtual group. Each of the two groups never had more than nine members and produced a significant amount of discord. When the largest one at the center of town became a virtual group, it quickly reached 100 Virtual Neighborhood Watch members.

The CPC also had zero time spent handling relationship problems with the members after they became a virtual group. This was a significant breakthrough. In 2017, when the CPC talks to some of these original members, the issues that caused the programs to collapse are still simmering. One of the pillars of the Neighborhood Watch Programs was the late Richard “Rick” Cuvala. Rick was one of the original members who envisioned groups all over Bensenville. On a personal note, Rick is greatly missed in Bensenville and the CPC Vargas is forever grateful for his assistance early in the research.

II. Business Watch Program: The second program in this research that was launched following the Neighborhood Watch Program was a watch program that could serve the needs of the business community. After doing some research in addition to the research by the RCMP Airport Watch Model, it was determined that a demand existed to compartmentalize a program for the businesses. After having a series of meetings with the leadership of the Bensenville Chamber of Commerce, a breakfast was hosted by the chamber for businesses to discuss this new program in mid-2010. The launching of the program was well attended and the program was well received. At that breakfast event, the Business Watch Program was launched.

The members of the Bensenville Chamber of Commerce wanted to have access to a division or unit in the police department to work on crime prevention opportunities and to have a more personalized dynamic. A few of the comments by the attendees were in regards to the difficulty of filing police reports—especially a delayed report. A small business sometimes could not close the business to come to the police station to make a police report. They also wanted to have training and recommendations on ways to reduce their exposure to retail theft, robbery, and possible violence.

Small to large companies in the industrial park, including multinationals, wanted training, security assessments, crime prevention training, active shooter trainings and drills, and wanted the same access to the CPC as the small businesses. The industrial park later splintered to have its own program. By the end of 2010, it was decided to keep the program under the Business Watch umbrella, and only tailor their own services © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 31/80

and communication. Therefore, the Industrial Watch Program could have its own separate program, should the Village of Bensenville so desires it. The membership in the industrial park also enjoyed a relationship with the ORD Airport Watch Program.

The ORD Airport Watch wanted to stand in their private properties, while spotting and photographing airplanes and the businesses in the industrial park saw the potential in having vetted individuals, wearing orange vests, and holding camera equipment at their properties, during the weekends. Since the CPC had a close working relationship with then-Director Peter Gallagher, the program started by adopting all their membership of the Bensenville Chamber of Commerce into the Business Watch Program. The CPC becomes a liaison for the businesses to work on crime prevention ideas and training for their employees. It is also possible for members of this program to contact the CPC arrange for a police report to be taken during flexible times.

A lot of work and collaboration has been taken place with the Bensenville Chamber of Commerce and they used the CPC as a resource for their members. As a point of clarification, the Business Watch Program was deployed to the entire Village of Bensenville, regardless of affiliation to the Bensenville Chamber of Commerce. The chamber was a founding partner and they promote the benefits of the program. In the Village of Bensenville, there is also a business development component, which also works closely with the CPC in order to promote the Business Watch Program.

This Business Watch Program drives the idea of “Customer Experience” into the policing domain from the private sector. It is a rarely found concept within traditional policing models. The only known program is the one from the Australian Federal Police (AFP) when they adopted their Airport Watch Program (in all 10 airports). The AFP took the best practices from Sgt. Brunelle, RCMP, and the Bensenville Police Department and implemented a Business Watch Program component into their overall program.

During the 2014 International Airport Watch Association (IAWA) Summit in Ottawa, Canada, the AFP presented their program in detail to Airport Watch representatives from all over the world. They highlighted their strong emphasis in their officers establishing relationships with managers and employees of businesses inside and around the airport perimeter. They also found out that the new relationships produced many more crime prevention-related reports of less common crimes that required policing specialties not normally employed in airport operations.

There are numerous opportunities for the CPC to perform all three key components of the Comprehensive Crime Prevention Program. Crime prevention, outreach and inclusion are at the center of every activity in this second program. This program has the following highlights and offers the following benefits for the members: •

Local businesses have a direct line of communication with the CPC, Joel Vargas, and communicate effectively by email, telephone, and text.

•

The ability for the businesses, especially the small businesses, to arrange to file a case or police report at their convenience.

© Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 32/80

•

Members get “Personalized” as well as “Individualized” attention similar to what they get from a personal banker, their insurance provider, or their stockbroker.

•

Crime Prevention training for their staff, including walkthroughs of their buildings when necessary.

•

Security Assessments by highly trained members of the Police Department, free of charge.

•

Crimes reports and alerts as well as follow up on their cases anytime during business hours.

•

Crime prevention seminars.

•

The CPC participates during networking opportunities with the Bensenville Chamber of Commerce including grand openings and business after-hours events.

•

The CPC collaborates with the Community Development Division and their Business Development personnel to better attend any of the needs of the businesses in Bensenville.

•

The CPC also conducts all background checks for the liquor-licensed establishments. This is an important crime prevention activity on behalf of the Chief of Police and the Village Manager.

•

The CPC also works with code enforcement to attend some of the situations that come by that require their expertise and they reciprocate the same way.

•

Contributing and giving back to the community opportunities during crime prevention events such as National Night Out and ORD Airport Watch Summits.

•

The CPC can take confidential tips about common crimes and crimes that fall in the federal domain. This includes human trafficking, organized crime and transnational crime. The referral to the right agency follows all preliminary fact finding processes.

•

The CPC works closely with some of the bigger transportation companies operating in Bensenville, including UPS and Expediters.

Unlike the Neighborhood Watch Program, this program has more structured processes.

Since the CPC deals with the small “mom and pop” store to the Fortune 500 companies, the approaches contextually vary, depending on each customer or case.

The CPC is always conscious of the fact that bigger companies have a lot more resources to tackle security-related issues. On the other hand, small business relies on the advice of the CPC and crime prevention materials provided to them by the Bensenville Police Department. In some instances, the smaller business communicates with the CPC in Spanish. The industrial park businesses also make use of the CPC © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 33/80

bilingual presentation skills. As a rule, if the employees are communicating with each other in one language over 60% of their shift, the presentation should be in that language.

IV. Crime Free Multi-Housing Program: The Bensenville Police Department has implemented a customized Crime Free Multi-Housing Program. One of the components adopted in Bensenville is the use of the Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) in order to help landlords improve their properties, while having an overarching crime prevention goal in mind.

The program is customized, because state law prevents non-home rule cities and towns from adopting ordinances to implement the program as designed. The original program suggests ordinances to be implemented to obligate property owners to comply with certain standards and procedures when dealing with their tenants involved in crime. As the result of the state laws, Bensenville can only implement parts of the Crime Free Multi-Housing Program and cannot have, for example, a required seminar for a property owner renting a residential property.

Currently, a little over 1500 apartment units are in the program. The smaller property owners that have less than 20 units fall back to the Neighborhood Watch Program. This does not, however, mean the smaller landlords are unable to contact the CPC for assistance. The CPC keeps a strong relationship with the managers and owners and keeps a two-way communication going at all times with everyone. They are also informed of all problems in their buildings by supplying them with the monthly criminal activity reports, released to the public. The landlords in this program also get annual report that breakdown every single call for service into their buildings. By taking a proactive approach without interfering with the rights of the tenants by influence from the police, managers and owners can exercise their lawful rights and remove troublecausing tenants—if they choose by following their contract remedies. Because it is a voluntary program, the components of crime prevention, outreach, and inclusion are also applicable to this program. This allows information sharing and crime prevention to flow just like the Neighborhood Watch and the Business Watch Programs of the initiative.

This program has the following highlights and the following benefits for the members: •

Members have a direct line of communication with the CPC Joel Vargas and communicate effectively by email, telephone, and text. Many of the members in this program also have direct access to the Chief of Police.

•

The Chief of Police also assigns police officers from all three shifts to have an extra watch to their assigned building.

•

The CPC gathers information from the same managers, owners, maintenance personnel and residents regarding possible criminal activities. This, of course, without violating any privacy laws.

© Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 34/80

•

Information from their residents, which are many times part of the Neighborhood Watch, flows directly to the CPC 24/7. When it becomes intelligence, it is referred to the appropriate division in the Police Department.

•

Information obtained is validated and becomes actionable intelligence.

•

Dissemination inside the police department or outside the police department depends on the kind of intelligence obtained.

•

Crime Prevention materials are offered to the tenants of the program as well.

•

Networking opportunities occur during the year with their tenants. Events like the tenant appreciation barbecues are used to enroll people into the Neighborhood Watch Program.

•

The Soccer League in Bensenville initially launched by the Bensenville Police Department has helped to bring about an over 90% decrease in crime in four apartment complexes.

•

By keeping some of the low-income families engaged in weekend activities, it has helped the property owners improve the physical appearance of their properties, attract better tenants, and accordingly increase property value.

•

The implementation of the soccer league has also helped owners see their lawns became green, healthy, and lively. The soccer pickup games used to cause severe damage to the lawns.

•

In some of the complexes, Community Action Clubs have been launched also to assist tenants become engaged in the proactive education of their children and the safety of the apartment complex. Some of the activities and volunteering include homework assistance and after-school activities.

•

At Elm Court Apartments, a Police Neighborhood Resource Center (PNRC) was created in 2009 with the help of the owners of the complex to have a space for community programing.

•

Members of the community are allowed to make use of the PNRC for any activity that helps the community. For example, DuCap employs the PNRC for after school homework assistance.

•

A literacy program is also part of this effort and the project draws from buildings in this program. A number of residents do not know how to write or read and volunteers are giving their time to teach others.

•

Primary education fully validated by the Government of Guatemala is also available for residents of Bensenville. Casa de La Cultura Guatemalteca en Chicago leads the literacy and this program.

While it is possible to explore additional opportunities with members of this program, the limitations imposed by Illinois law have not been much of an obstacle. Many of the community-based programs launched in the buildings have created a lot of pride in the members of the community. People have absolutely improved their Quality of Life by © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 35/80

working closely, not only with the Bensenville Police Department, but also with the other organizations (governmental and non-governmental) that are assisting these residents.

The focus of this particular program is dealing with the landlords and crime that occurs in their property. The program has opened additional opportunities that were immediately explored and continue to be explored and tried by the CPC. Soccer, literacy, after-school programs, online technical education opportunities, and selfimprovement and leadership programs are sustainably improving the lives of the residents. On the other hand, property owners enjoy lower rates of crime, more attractive properties, and higher relative quality of tenants. It is a win-win for all the stakeholders involved in this program.

V. The Bensenville ORD Airport Watch Program: Currently, this group has 200 members. This program works with a small group of dedicated and committed aviation enthusiasts who spend a collective hundreds of hours monthly in our industrial parks “spotting and photographing” airplanes for recreational usage.20 Many such enthusiasts are former law enforcement, military, civilian aviation personnel, and, in the vast majority of cases, are highly knowledgeable in aviation transportation and infrastructure. They have an instrumental stake in ensuring the continuing safety and security of airports and the surrounding areas, and thus make for ideal participants in the community initiative. The can serve as deterrence to criminal (and potentially terrorist) activity in the industrial parks of not only Bensenville, but also around Chicago O’Hare International Airport and Midway International Airport.21 Following the lead from Canada (Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, Halifax, Calgary, Kelowna, and Vancouver), Minneapolis, and the United Kingdom, the Bensenville Police Department in Illinois is proud to have joined this international program that brings crime prevention to a local municipality with a regional and national security component.

This program is embraced by all federal agencies inside Chicago O’Hare International Airport. Since its deployment in 2010, this specific approach to the program has been replicated in several airports in the United States and Australia. In Australia, the Australian Federal Police (AFP) deployed a program that combined the additional programs developed in this research in Bensenville and it was deployed in all 10 airports under their control.22 Miami International Airport has also launched their own Airport Watch program modeled after the original program established by Sgt. Brunelle, RCMP (the co-founder of IAWA with the CPC), and the ORD Airport Watch program.232425

20

FOX. “Voluntary Airport Watch Program Is Keeping O’Hare Safer.” WFLD. Accessed February 22, 2017. http://www.fox32chicago.com/news/local/51320217-story.

21 “ORD Airport Watch.” Accessed February 22, 2017. http://ordairportwatch.org/.

22 “Airport Watch.” Australian Federal Police, April 6, 2016. https://www.afp.gov.au/what-we-do/our-workairports/airport-watch.

23 Mohan, Neki. “Miami Airport Watch Helps MIA Security Spot Criminals.” WPLG, May 1, 2014. http://www.local10.com/news/florida/miami-airport-watch-helps-mia-security-spot-criminals. © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 36/80

The International Association of Airport and Seaport Police (InterPort Police) recognized this program in 2012 with the International Public Safety Awards for providing such an effective and efficient crime prevention program for airports.26 All the founding members of the programs in the U.S. were present, including Sgt. Brunelle of the RCMP (who was awarded the International Public Safety Medal for having founded the program in Ottawa in 1999), Sgt. Al Cooper (Ret.) of the MSP Airport Police, along with leadership of the Bensenville Police Department, and CPC Joel Vargas were recognized during their annual 9/11 Awards. The following are some of the details on the program and benefits to the members: •

The Bensenville Police Department in a partnership with the Chicago Police Department (Aviation Division), the Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and the Federal Air Marshall Service (FAMS) have helped in making this program an international success.

•

The members of this group have a background check done in order to be admitted to the program.

•

The ORD Airport Watch Program is part of IAWA in Ottawa, Canada.

•

The close-to-200 members of this program in Bensenville are a force multiplier for existing law enforcement infrastructure. Their spotting also takes place in Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW).

•

The members, wearing an orange vest, are a deterrent to criminal activity.

•

The members can also visit other airports with similar Airport Watch Programs and spend time enjoying their hobby.

•

The members have a hobby to photograph and spot airplanes. They stand outside the perimeter of the airport.

•

The members do not get any special access into any restricted areas, unless formally prearranged, in which case they are escorted by the CDA and CPD, during trainings and tours.

•

The members spend a lot of the time on the public grounds or in parking lots in industrial parks around the airport.

•

The industrial parks around the airport during the weekend are more vulnerable to criminal activity and the membership’s physical presence helps these businesses.

24

Ken Kaye, Staff. “‘Shooters’ Band Together to Keep MIA Safe.” Sun-Sentinel.com. Accessed February 22, 2017. http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-mia-watch-20140320-story.html.

25 “2386-Airport-Watch| FrontLine Security.” Accessed February 22, 2017. http://security.frontline.online/article/2014/1/2386-Airport-Watch.

26 “9/11 Medal.” Interportpolice. Accessed February 22, 2017. https://www.interportpolice.org/9-11-ipmhonourees. © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 37/80

•

Because of traffic patterns, the members can congregate in different areas and become a highly unpredictable (and therefore effective) deterrent to criminal activity around the airport perimeter.

•

Members are trained to detect (i.e. Record, Observe, and Report) suspicious activity including training on how to detect Man-Portable Air-Defense Systems (MANPADS), their components, and functionality as well as the threat to aircraft.

•

The membership also receive counterterrorism training by the law enforcement in the airport and are provided updates every year in evolving risks and threats to airports.

•

Members report suspicious activities directly to the O’Hare Communications Center (OCC).

•

During aviation-related incidents and accidents, members of this program have been able to record details and provide the information to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other law enforcement.

•

The members receive a “Volunteer Identification Card” issued by the Bensenville Police Department and wear an orange vest. Law enforcement is familiar with the vest and the purpose of the program.27

•

Members also receive explosives familiarization as well.

•

BORDERPOL has also adopted the model to be followed by other airports around the world.

•

The International Association of Airport and Seaport Police (InterPort Police) has adopted the ORD Airport Watch as a standard and fully endorses the IAWA best practices model.

•

Members also received guided tours inside the airport fields, so they can be able to stand on the taxiways and take pictures and videos of landings and takeoffs, under prearranged supervision for purposes of their safety.

•

Australia has a similar crime prevention initiative to the USAF “Eagle Eyes” program and the best practices of the IAWA.

•

NATO facilities in Germany, such as the Ramstein Air Base, have also worked with the Bensenville Police Department, the RCMP and MSP Airport Police to develop their own program.

•

Miami International Airport (MIA) also launched a program modeled after the success in Bensenville.

•

The members also volunteer to the airport authorities during practice full-scale drills, such as airplane crashes, as well as simulated disasters, such as earthquakes and tornados.

27

CNN, Thom Patterson. “#Avgeeks: The New Warriors on Terror.” CNN. Accessed February 22, 2017. http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/04/travel/plane-spotters-versus-terrorists/index.html. © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 38/80

•

Drills include active shooter, terror attacks, and hostage-takings by armed assailants in trains employed in the airport.

•

During the Fourth of July Parade in Bensenville, they also assist in traffic control.

The Bensenville Police Department took the lead to deploy the ORD Airport Watch Program with the primary intention of having a consistent physical presence of aviation enthusiasts in the industrial park. After the backing of the law enforcement agencies inside and around O’Hare, then the program began to shape into a regional crime prevention program with National Security benefits.

The creation of the ORD Airport Watch program with the help of the MinneapolisSt. Paul International Airport (MSP) and the RCMP in 2010 brought a wide range of methods with which the program could be launched. The MSP Airport had, for example, a more structured airport authority management of the program. Currently, the vetting, IDs, and management of the program are handled by the police department in the airport. Members are required to comply with some minimum reporting hours inside and in the perimeter of the airport. Other groups in Canada incorporate their respective Airport Watch programs even deeper into their operations. The Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YOW) and the Ottawa International Airport (YOW) allow members to foot patrol the airport facility and assist in traffic details. In Canada, as well, the Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) have a less structured Airport Watch Program. Regardless of contextual differences at the level of policy and practice, Airport Watch volunteers are not meant to replace airport security and/or law enforcement.

Rather, they serve to complement existing efforts by involving the community in a sustained crime prevention initiative.

A frequently asked question is if the program should be launched by the airport authority or outside the airport authority. The answer is that it depends if the membership and the airport authority are able to come to terms in the model to be established. That being said, there are indeed some benefits when the Airport Watch Program is created outside the airport authority. The biggest one is the fact that members can launch a freestanding program. In the case of the ORD Airport Watch Program, it has its own board of directors and they hold monthly board, membership, and law enforcement meetings.

The programs built outside the airport authority are also able to establish their rules and regulations to custom fit the airport and enjoy significantly higher flexibility. In the ORD Airport Watch Program, members do not have any logging of time requirements and they are not provided access to the landside or airside of the airports operations (since the program extends to MDW). However, members who volunteer and log the most time in the perimeter of ORD or MDW are given field tours as an incentive and reward.

There are, however, some downsides in having an Airport Watch Program managed by the airport authorities. In recent months, change in administrations of a few airports in Canada has forced the watch programs originally built inside their operations to change into outside programs. Some of the programs in Canada are now shifting into © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 39/80

a model like the ORD Airport Watch Program. What this research revealed in this program is that there is no downside in having organized volunteer groups around facilities, such as airports and aircraft military bases. In addition, it is recommended that law enforcement become involved in these programs early in the planning and deployment in order to develop these members into a force multiplier. Furthermore, it is recommended that the Airport Watch Program, regardless of the management model, decided to include the partnership with all the different law enforcement agencies inside and around the airport. This last point is a requirement for any degree of success within the program.

VI. Student Watch Program: The mantra, “Be Safe and Sound in Schools” by the National Crime Prevention Council is a statement that should go beyond the message it drives. Their premise is modeled in a seven-step program that fosters a comprehensive approach to school safety that addresses school safety problems by evaluating physical conditions such as lights, locks, alarms, and cameras. The Student Watch Program designed in Bensenville follows the National Crime Prevention Council in many of its principles— especially in the physical security arena. The Student Watch Program in Bensenville adds cultural and social variables, such as bullying, violence, drug use, gang activity, cyber-crime, other crimes (e.g. vandalism) that may promote an unsafe environment in the school and while in transit to or from school. In 2016, the CPC introduced the Frida Kahlo Community Organization in order to explore culture and arts from Latin America into the classrooms of Bensenville Elementary School District 2. Parents and children get to participate in many activities that enrich their knowledge and appreciation of their Latin American heritage.

The Student Watch Program, unlike those such as the School Resource Officer (SRO) position, acts as an intermediary and a networker to bring different stakeholders together. The physical presence of School Resource Officers (SROs) at the schools is important to the security of the schools. The SRO fills significant needs related to security of the properties, staff, students and visitors. When the CPC began to explore the gaps of security, public safety, and crime prevention in schools, the CPC identified gaps that could be filled with the Crime Prevention Unit. Additionally, another challenge identified in year one of this research is that, many times, private schools in Bensenville had become ignored when it comes to safety. This occurs as the SRO gets paid part of his income by the school he or she serves.

The private schools do not have the cash flow to hire their own security or pay the police for their services. The Student Watch Program then fills not only the gaps from the public schools, but also provides a minimum level of services to the private schools to meet any requirements by the board of education in the state and county.

This means drills and annual safety assessments can be done with little difficulty with the assistance of the CPC and Operations and Support Divisions in the police department. In 2016, CPC Vargas also met with the leadership of Crime Stoppers

© Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 40/80

USA28 and the Sandy Hook Promise29 in order to identify additional crime prevention opportunities for the schools in Bensenville. The CPC introduced the heads of the Sandy Hook Promise who came to Bensenville to talk to the DuPage County Regional Office of Education in order to bring them to do seminars of the lessons they learned after the December 2012 mass shooting tragedy. Other synergies also take place with the Bensenville Fire District during outreach.

In addition to working with the leadership and staff of the schools, this program actively participates with student body by hosting seminars and taking part in many of their public events. Opportunities, such as networking and crime prevention workshops, in each classroom with parent groups have been an important form of outreach and crime prevention. In this program, staff become familiar with the CPC and know that they have someone they can contact if they have questions about public safety issues.

When invited to do so, the CPC is also able to engage with the students in the classroom during discussions about a number of subjects, including immigration, public safety, crime prevention, drug use and abuse, careers in law enforcement, and many other relevant topics. Parent classes and meetings also take place. At times, the CPC conducts these meetings in Spanish. The Student Watch Program complements the SRO. The following are some of the details on the program and benefits to the members: •

The CPC becomes part and active participant of Padres Unidos of Fenton, a Latino parent group in Fenton High School.

•

The Bensenville Elementary School District 2 also uses the CPC to come to each classroom and talk about bullying and drug prevention.

•

Provides the leadership in schools and staff a direct point of contact to the Bensenville Police Department.

•

This program helps to identify safety concerns, criminal and security-related issues with the schools districts, individual schools, and the two private schools.

•

The Community Oriented Police Division, in which the CPC operated for a number of years hosted heroin addition seminars in Fenton High School. This seminar occurred in the classroom settings and also in a public forum with children, students, staff and parents.

•

The CPC can also hold a school safety and security forums and seminars.

•

The CPC spends time during the year hosting crime prevention workshops with the special education students in Fenton High School.

28

“Crime Stoppers USA 1-800-222-TIPS.” Crime Stoppers USA 1-800-222-TIPS. Accessed February 22, 2017. http://www.crimestoppersusa.org/.

29 “Sandy Hook Promise.” Sandy Hook Promise. Accessed February 22, 2017. http://www.sandyhookpromise.org/.

© Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 41/80

•

The CPC also, upon request, can get out to schools and talk with students about bullying and drug abuse. At times, requests from Elmhurst Schools have taken place because of the Spanish speaking skills of the CPC.

•

Work with all the schools (private and public) and support their annual drills with the Deputy Chief of Operations and Support Services of the Bensenville Police Department.

•

The CPC also works closely with the North DuPage Special Education Cooperative (NDSEC) to build crime prevention awareness with this community.

•

The CPC also hosts special events that have national ties for example Red Ribbon Week, and National Night Out.

•

The CPC becomes involved in school related events where police visibility and presence is possible for networking purposes.

•

The CPC also participates in Community Resources events.

•

The CPC also takes part in meetings that have to do with networking of all different government agencies serving Bensenville. This takes place in order to find additional services for Bensenville residents.

•

The CPC has also hosted or taken part in immigration workshops in the schools to assuage people’s concerns, regarding possible misinformation about Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids.

•

The CPC helps publicize and inform all the relevant stakeholders of any risks or emerging threats for youth in all the schools.

•

The CPC also works closely with different organizations working to develop the parents that have children in the schools in order to improve their overall Quality of Life. Parenting classes, after-school activities, and volunteering are always offered.

•

Quarterly self-improvement, self-esteem, and leadership seminars are hosted in coordination with the CPC for adults in the Latino community who have never experienced that kind of personal development.

•

The Bensenville Soccer League enrolls approximately 60% of the 450 children are from Bensenville School District 2, School District 205, and Fenton High School.

Designing a program that would fulfill the needs of the thousands of stakeholders, consisting of school leadership, staff, and students, of all the schools was not an easy or straightforward task. It took meeting with school leadership, staff and parents to find out what they wanted to have in a new and different relationship with the police department. Their needs were vast and varied, but limiting the activities that could negatively impact the lives of the students and parents became the main driver of this program.

© Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 42/80

Inside the Student Watch Program, there exists significant interaction with the other crime prevention initiatives, such as the Neighborhood Watch Program. The Business Watch Program also arranges for owners and managers to speak with students in the schools, where they learn of activities in the schools, when children discuss the engagement with the police department. The relationships with the other programs complement the crime prevention efforts from the SRO and the other police divisions. An adult receiving a monthly crime prevention newsletter may pick up a tip that he or she can share with teacher. This sharing then causes the teacher to suggest that the CPC conduct a series of workshops in the school with at-risk students. There is a risk of a downside to this program in schools. During the research it was discovered that it is possible to find that the SRO in the schools has an almost adversarial relationship to the CPC or a similar position. If this happens, a meeting must take place with the leadership of the schools and police department in order to fix the problem. It is possible to find SROs who would try to keep other police divisions out of their turf, thinking that they may be losing relative authority or discretion. In reality, this kind of attitude robs the students and schools from all kids of crime prevention and selffulfillment opportunities.

Crime prevention, outreach, and inclusion are at the center of this initiative. The program in Bensenville has brought dynamics and possibilities in the four years of the research, never before explored by the police department (previously, the department had a DARE program, but it was dropped in the mid-2000s for lack of empirical evidence that it worked). A result oriented more towards law enforcement is the impact in terms of public safety with the lower indices of crime inside schools. This includes drug usage and abuse. Gangs are no longer a risk in Bensenville, since the comprehensive crime prevention initiative completed its first year. If implementing a similar program, the police department must find out what the desires are from all the relevant stakeholders. After the list is compiled, the CPC should identity with command what items in the lists can be delivered by the CPC. The CPC must also be able negotiate with other organizations for the items on the lists that can be outsourced or handled by volunteers.

Lastly, it is recommended to focus on improving the QOL of the entire family and not just the student in school. The police objectives and goals would most likely fall into place almost organically. The example from the Superintendent Dr. James Stelter of Bensenville Elementary School District 2 is an ideal model to follow. The CPC was able to work with Dr. Stelter from day one of this program. As the result of the mindset from Dr. Stelter, the CPC also adopted a holistic approach into all the other crime prevention programs. In communities with high diversity, it is most effective to find what the parents need to do to increase the potential and empowerment of youth. Focus on improving the QOL of the entire household, and not just the student by offering synergies with outside organizations. The Bensenville Police Department found these synergies and delivered results in the four years of this research.

VII. Organizations Watch Program:

Š Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 43/80

In this program, the main premise is that volunteers from the different religions and non-religious organizations working in Bensenville make a significant contribution to Bensenville—especially the most vulnerable people in need. Organizations such as Kiwanis of Bensenville, Wood Dale and Franklin Park, Rotary of Bensenville, Liga de Futbol Latinos Unidos, Cubs and Boy Scouts groups, the Frida Kahlo Community Organization, the Casa de la Cultura de Guatemalteca en Chicago and many others that operate in Bensenville have a great working relationship with the Bensenville Police Department. Just like the other programs, this particular program required a different approach when it was deployed.

Instead of having a more direct one-on-one relationship with the membership, this program uses any opportunity to network with people. The objectives are, of course, different than the objectives for the Neighborhood Watch, but this program is used to enroll members to the Neighborhood Watch. Information sharing also takes place in a different way. It is mostly transmitted via the organization they belong to or by making brief speeches during their gatherings. The relationship to their constituents is an indirect one that sometimes shifts into the conceptual domain of the other programs.

Since the launching of the Organizations Watch Program, relationships have been built with the governments of Mexico and Guatemala. In particular, the Consejo Nacional de Atención al Migrante de Guatemala (CONAMIGUA) Executive Secretariat Alejandra Gordillo (Fmr.) and the Congreso de la República de Guatemala with Congressman Jean Paul Briere Samayoa. They have worked closely with the CPC to establish education-related programming, fully backed by the Guatemalan Education Ministry. Executive Secretariat Alejandra Gordillo (Fmr.) was also instrumental in building the Bensenville Soccer League.

When it comes to performing outreach in the Hispanic community in Bensenville, St. Alexis Catholic Church opened its doors in 2010 to the Bensenville Police Department. The CPC can go, meet, and address their congregation anytime the Bensenville Police Department thinks is necessary and with the permission of Father Franklin. The Padres Unidos of Fenton meetings and the summer soccer league games in the weekends are also ideal opportunities for the CPC to perform outreach with the Latino community. All other events such as Music in the Park, Walk-A-Ton (a B-Well of Bensenville Program), the Fourth of July Parade, Bensenville Youth Coalition, the Senior & Disabled Advisory Council, Alcoholic Anonymous (AA) annual event, and the Senior Monthly Luncheons, are opportunities to do communitywide outreach.

The following are some details on the program and benefits to its members: •

In four buildings, the decrease in crime has been significant, with an over 90% decrease compared to years prior to 2010.30 In part, credit goes to organizations such as DuCap, which have an active presence in these communities.

30

Miller, Steve. “Bensenville Credits Youth Soccer League For Steep Decline In Crime.” Accessed February 22, 2017. http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2015/03/18/bensenville-credits-youth-soccer-leaguefor-steep-decline-in-crime/. © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 44/80

•

The Bensenville Police Department collaborates with CONAMIGUA and nonprofit organizations like DuCap and Casa de la Cultura Guatemalteca en Chicago to bring a literacy program. It is 100% volunteer-driven program.

•

The Bensenville Police Department provides the space for DuCap to run the after-school programs and build the Community Action Clubs, as mentioned earlier.

•

Opportunities have been created to develop the volunteer base and offer them seminars in self-esteem, self-improvement, and leadership by DuCap and Casa de la Cultura Guatemalteca en Chicago.

•

The CPC becomes involved in collaboration with DuPage County PADS organization to work with homeless persons in Bensenville.

•

The CPC also works with the DuPage County Health Department to bring Health & Human Services to some of the apartment complexes.

•

A positive residual effect of the recreational soccer league is that it can be an avenue to improve the health of the immigrants in Bensenville. Health clinics, such as VNA Health Care, host events during the year to serve people in the community.

•

The Bensenville Police Department also works closely with the Village of Bensenville B-Well Bensenville initiative to promote walking and bicycle riding in the community. The CPC assisted the Village and gathering opinions from the community on sidewalks and other recreational ideas.

•

The CPC facilitates and promotes any parenting-related programs that are offered by government and non-government agencies.

•

The CPC networks and educates our senior living communities in Bensenville in the area crime prevention. This includes seminars in the different communities.

•

The CPC is an active participant of Impact DuPage: Driving DuPage Forward and attends their meetings to offer insight about Bensenville and its needs.

•

The CPC works closely with the Bensenville Fire District to perform outreach during events from either organization. This includes conducting seminars.

•

The CPC also works with the governments of Guatemala, Mexico, and El Salvador to do Health Fairs in Bensenville. One such event in Fenton High School had over 2500 people in two days.

•

The Bensenville Police Department works with DuCap during the summer and early fall to host barbecues and back to school programs.

•

Immigration information workshops are also hosted by the CPC, DuCap and Casa de la Cultura Guatemalteca en Chicago.

This program is an important component to the holistic approach to improve the safety of the town while trying to improve the Quality of Life of the residents. It would be

© Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 45/80

impossible for a local government to attempt to pay for the services volunteers and organizations bring to Bensenville.

Besides the value in programing and impact in the QOL organizations in Bensenville, this research discovered that, when placing highly motivated people in charge of programs, such as the DuCap in Bensenville, many possibilities can open up for exploration. Erendira Loza Navarro and Cecilia Ochoa with DuCap with Norma Roman and Hilda Diaz with Casa de la Cultura Guatemalteca en Chicago have brought programing that includes literacy, after school programing, but more importantly programing to develop the members of the community that never participated in any activity beyond work and whatever the schools provided. Today, there exists a vibrant community in the apartment complexes that, everyday, is making positive and sustained contributions to their families, their neighbors, and Bensenville at large. Just because minorities may have language limitations and may not be fully bilingual, the Bensenville Police Department has developed the programs that can communicate 100% in Spanish. English as the Second Language classes are regularly attended by people in the community and encouraged by DuCap.

Comprehensive Analysis of the Police Activity Data In the last section of the research, the CPC now turns to an analysis of the data compilation for the years: 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. A statement regularly shared in the orthodox police forums is that crime prevention cannot be holistically measured. The argument is that, because they cannot measure how many people “didn’t do drugs” or how many “didn’t join a gang,” it is impossible to evaluate the effectiveness of their crime prevention efforts. This was not the case in Bensenville. This research effectively debunks these misconceptions. The Police Calls for Service31 reported to the police department generates a code, date and time, type of call for service, and provides a geo location. This data can create a number of details crucial for a researcher or analyst.

The datasets obtained from verified cases in Bensenville are rich and capable of being utilized to perform a multitude of holistic analysis and visual representations.

It is unlikely that police departments not only in Illinois, but also in the U.S. as a whole are making use of the raw data effectively to create crime prevention initiatives or programing. As part of the Illinois Crime Prevention Association, the CPC was unable to locate one department that was maximizing the use of these datasets to the level of the Bensenville Police Department in order to create programs to address the data by adopting a “cause and effect” approach to each category of call for service. In 2014, the Illinois Crime Prevention Association recognized CPC Vargas with its “Officer of the Year Award” for the comprehensive crime prevention modeling established in Bensenville. Larger cities, such as the City of Naperville, have been able to expand their crime prevention efforts into different specialized areas, including a heavy emphasis in cybercrime prevention, which impacts virtually every city in the U.S. Naperville is an excellent example in how to maximize crime prevention by implementing programing

31

NETRMS is the program used in DuPage County. All the law enforcement agencies use the system to store all the cases. © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 46/80

that goes to the root of the problems. Just like Naperville, the City of Elgin is taking their outreach efforts to a much higher level than any other major city in the Midwest.

The City of Elgin—over 5 ½ times the size of Bensenville—is considered highly proactive, mainly because they are able to maximize the use of their datasets in order to effectively direct policing activity and develop crime prevention programs to serve their diverse communities. With high indices of violence in other larger cities in Illinois, like the City of Rockford and the City of Chicago, the real focus should not be entirely in a crackdown by using “paramilitary” police forces. These anti-gang and anti-narcotics police units have no institutional intention of building trust in these communities and neighborhoods—it is this missing dynamic of trust between police and community that often brings about a higher prevalence of crime. A robust crime prevention effort with a comprehensive modeling is what is required. Looking at the wars the U.S. has been involved in over the last 20 years, there is no evidence that the military forces have been successful at building community trust to the point that the people become consistently cooperative and collaborative in their own security. The same mentality, when applied to policing even in very troubled parts of a city, should give a hint to the administrators and elected officials that saturation and anti-gang units alone cannot be necessary in the highly complex solution of bringing about a sustained reduction of crime.

Another key trend observed in police forces in Illinois is that police departments cut crime prevention immediately following any budgetary or personnel troubles, instead of looking at other areas to saving on expenditure. This is a completely reversed trend compared to high-density urban centers, such as Singapore, where their policing effort is divided among police divisions and participation from civilians and the private sector is a fundamental part of their success. Such approaches view crime prevention as 80% of their mission. Their community-oriented policing model was replicated to a point in Bensenville. Singapore, like many successful countries and cities with the lowest crime statistics both relative and absolute, has embraced a form of community policing that brings everyone together. In the U.S., the policing models from the 1960s still permeate much of policing and, while in complete crisis mode, the only solutions becoming available is more control by more CCTV and public mistrust of a disproportionately armed police force. Dismantling a crime prevention unit or division, or simply taking these officers back to patrol anytime the manpower demands it, leaves a significant gap in these communities. When the CPC was able to inquire to command in these departments the response was virtually identical: “crime prevention is not necessary.”

An additional phenomenon that was discovered in this research is the ability for these crime report numbers and categories to measure if the police department is Reactive or Proactive. This was an essential discovery, since the police department that is reactive spends most of the time responding to crisis and emergencies. When the government and the police department create the basis to support an improvement of the QOL, it is possible to shift the paradigm of policing from reactive to proactive, thereby being not only more effective in crime reduction, but also more efficient in expenditure allocation. In this research analyzing the datasets, when over 50% of the calls are “Crime Prevention” generated by the community compared to all UCR Part I © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 47/80

and Part II, the police department should be considered a proactive police force.

Reaching a proactive status must be measured monthly.

Datasets can also provide evidence of where the programs must be deployed first. In the Bensenville example, the poor and heavily segregated communities were the first places in which the implementation of the programs took place. There is no magic answer to what programs must be installed first. Everything being variable, a constant in the crime prevention efforts must continue with activities focused in Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion. These are necessary activities that are at the center of any comprehensive crime prevention programing. Some programs will deploy citywide and others will have more tailored programing to serve the needs of a particular apartment complex, neighborhood, or broader community.

In Bensenville, for example, the Guatemalan migrant community has been receiving support in literacy and have been provided with parenting skills training. The inclusion efforts in these communities also require a lot of more volunteering resources and organizations to become involved. Improving the QOL for these migrants is part of the overall mission of the Village of Bensenville. The efforts of the police department and the collaboration of resident volunteers, as well as the partnerships with other organizations and the support of the governments where the migrants came from, drive this effort collectively. When a migrant comes to Bensenville for a few years and returns to his or her home country and he or she has learned to read and write, may have received an elementary education (fully backed by the Government of Guatemala), the impact in the life of the individual is significant. Even learning a technical education is available in Bensenville, so they can acquire skills with which they can go back and start their own business or incorporate to a job.

Intended to improve the QOL of the residents in Bensenville may also mean that, when these migrants return to their country, they may not need to migrate to the U.S., as they have learned the skills to earn income there. The government of Mexico has a much more robust program with their “Plazas Comunitarias” program where people can even obtain over 30 different courses and technical career.32 Even higher education online from the most prestigious universities in Mexico is available to immigrants living in the U.S. Improving the lives of the immigrants in towns and cities can truly have a transnational impact. The other benefits that are regularly overlooked are the benefits to the local factories and businesses when their employees get an education in Spanish and are fully backed by their countries of origin. The education is also accepted and can be evaluated when transferred to a U.S. school.

This research will return to the comprehensive crime prevention initiative in Bensenville, now we have reviewed the additional ways to impact the criminal statistics by developing their residents. The programs that are built to fill the mandate of the comprehensive crime prevention program are basically ways to keep activities separate

32

“Plazas Comunitarias,” accessed March 4, 2017, http://www.conevyt.org.mx/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=475&Itemid=946.

© Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 48/80

in order to streamline and simplify management, while at the same time, all the personnel are consistent with their overall crime prevention, outreach, and inclusion efforts. For example, some police departments in larger cities have an entire division that handles the Crime Free Multi-Housing Program, because they have thousands of apartment units. Other members of the Crime Prevention Division then handle programs that address seniors and neighborhood watch programs, just to cite a some examples.

Compartmentalizing their respective programs is possible and should be considered in larger cities. Smaller towns like Bensenville have one or two employees handling all the programs and using high degrees of collaboration that can number 100 people performing volunteer duties.

The importance of compiling information from the police calls for service data is that it is very objective in nature. While the cause and effect of why some of the crimes occur is more subjective and open to interpretation, the quantitative datasets offer insights of pressing crisis and emerging trends. For example, when migrants from Guatemala living in the apartment complexes have no hobby or sport for recreational outlets, many tend to engage in alcohol consumption and/or abuse thereof. This fosters a trend of disorder, crime, and violence reflected by police calls for service and ultimately arrests. Along this same line of reasoning, crime prevention calls generated by the community are indicators that people are willing to call 9-1-1 and report suspicious activities of all kinds. The immediate response to a 9-1-1 by the police promotes proactive crime prevention and allows the police to step in and resolve conflicts early on—and hopefully provide a sustained solution, before lasting damage is done.

In Bensenville, crime prevention calls are opportunities in which police officers can display their conflict resolution skills, while building trust between the people and the police. Domestic trouble calls are important, because they can cause a deterioration of the relationship of the people involved and escalate into more complex problems or even criminal cases. It is surprising to see that cities, like Chicago, experiencing serious degrees of violence decides to ignore (or mostly ignore) many times these preventative calls for police service that foster trust. Perhaps it is necessary to re-consider this and to build a division that deals with such activities, which provide opportunities to build trust among stakeholders. In Bensenville, crime prevention calls have impacted not only the relationship between community and police and have resulted in crime reduction, but also propelled the police department into a proactive police force in which over 60% of the calls are generated by the community for crime prevention purposes.

An important factor is also the ability for the police department to measure every call for service and group them into their different Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) code following the FBI model. In this research, even targeted apartment buildings obtained their own constant analysis in order to respond accordingly with crime prevention strategies. Disorderly Conduct calls/crimes are indicators that there may be a lack of after-work or weekend activities to keep adult migrants busy and engaged in a healthy lifestyle. It is easy to say that it is not the police business to try to fix people and improve their lives. However, when adopting a holistic approach and a focus into improving the QOL of the residents, including the poor and minorities, the results can be reflected in Š Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 49/80

significant crime reduction (in Bensenville, four buildings with over 90% of crime reduction). As well, the Neighborhood Action Clubs33 in partnership with DuCap have impacted the behavior of their neighbors in a positive way. These members actually hold people accountable for their actions and when necessary the police are summoned to handle misbehavior and, when necessary, handle criminal activity.

The quantitative section of this report offers the reader the opportunity to begin to look at his or her own data in a different way. Perhaps it is important to begin to encourage a different relationship between analyst and data. The relationship created in Bensenville during the four years was one of looking at every call for service in a weekly basis. Catching early indicators that an increase in certain crimes is occurring can be crucial for the CPC. Ruse Entries Burglaries for example that occur more than one time can be a trend that should serve to alert the entire community by disseminating crime prevention details to report and stop the crime.

A number of municipalities have found a way to Listen, Engage, and Act with the adoption of social media and other communication mediums. Social media has the ability to share information with communities that extend outside the municipality that they serve. Chief Jeffrey Swoboda of the City of Elgin, Illinois, has taken the social media-engaging phenomenon to a much higher level—seen almost nowhere near Chicago. The Elgin Police Department Facebook page is one that thousands of people visit in a daily basis for information sharing and crime alerts.34 Chief Swoboda has one of the most engaging social media platforms that is responsive to the community and produces fast and effective communication in both English and Spanish.

How far a police department can go with social media depends on the adaptability of the police department and the municipality in question. In Elgin for example, the Hispanic community is approaching 50,000 people of the 110,000 people in total. Engaging the entire community by using different channels of communication is an effective tool for Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion efforts. In year 2016, the CPC Vargas followed Chief Swoboda’s lead and began to engage with the communities in Bensenville by using Facebook as part of this research. The information sharing was extraordinary and also proactively disruptive as the CPC had constant engagement with the community of Bensenville at all hour, day and night. However, for sake of this research, CPC Vargas committed an entire year to evaluate social media to communicate between the police and community. Results were very positive.

Engaging the community in Bensenville with that one platform was something the Bensenville Police had not explored yet. As the matter of fact, when this research was released, the Bensenville Police Department still did not have an official Facebook account. Crime prevention efforts require the use of an effective crowdsourcing mindset, like that which was employed by the Elgin Police Department. Not every department, however, is going to take such a step. Social media requires a significant amount of time to maintain, as the engagement from the thousands of people who live inside and

33 34

“Services,” accessed March 4, 2017, http://ducap.org/services/.

“Elgin Police Department,” accessed March 4, 2017, https://www.facebook.com/ElginPolice/. © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 50/80

outside of the city can be burdensome for one person. Social media consistently requires the components of listening, engaging, and acting. The example in Elgin is one to be modeled in any city, regardless of size. Chief Swoboda listens, engages, and takes action with his social media outreach efforts.

Therefore, impacting crime related data could occur in many different ways, as outlined previously in this research. The real challenge is to be able to understand the different categories of the data that represent and create a list of priorities for the police department. If the challenges involve violence, drugs, and gang activity, then the data is going to show the objective part of the analysis. The activities that must be introduced to reduce or eliminate the threats require the police department to build on the activities of the different watch groups that are initiated to fit the municipality. The data can be harvested, enriched, and analyzed to produce programs that attack the problem from the root cause, not merely the symptom thereof. The application of the communityoriented policing model has a lot more applications that have not been detailed in this research, but nonetheless require at least some mentioning. One of them has to do with the need to foster trust with Muslim communities in the U.S., where the existing dynamic between these communities and law enforcement has been damaged for a number of complex and contextually sensitive reasons.

The following are sections of the different data groups consistent with the UCR of the FBI, in order to understand the consistency of the program in the different categories of crimes.

Part I-A: Crimes Against Persons (Violent) CASE/CRIME/INCIDENT

2013

2014

2015

2016

AGGRAVATED ASSAULT

8

1

4

6

CRIMINAL SEXUAL ASSAULT (NON-AGGRAVATED) AGGRAVATED CRIMINAL SEXUAL ASSAULTFORCIBLE

3

6

7

8

1

2

1

0

AGGRAVATED ROBBERY

1

0

0

1

ARMED ROBBERY

3

2

1

4

ROBBERY

2

4

4

3

PREDATORY CRIMINAL SEXUAL ASSAULT

3

1

0

0

AGGRAVATED DOMESTIC BATTERY

0

0

2

0

MURDER

0

1

0

1

Part I-A: Crimes Against Persons (Violent)

The numbers in Bensenville for this particular dataset are very low. There is one distinction that can be made in this dataset. Distinguishing the perpetrators that are residents and perpetrators that travel to Bensenville to commit crime. By reducing significant the violence and crime created by residents, the violence and crime created by outsiders is easily identified (and should be identified). If a community trying to implement this program has a large number of transients, additional focus can be implemented to address the known crimes produced by transients. In Bensenville, the Comprehensive Crime Prevention Initiative was able to reduce the Part I Crimes Š Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 51/80

Against Persons (Violent) by dealing with the known criminals in town and reinforcing the outreach and crime prevention efforts for vulnerabilities with criminals from outside of Bensenville. The following are insights from each of the crimes: •

Aggravated Assault: While the numbers show a somewhat consistent picture, a drop in 2014 occurred, as the Bensenville Police Department was moving dispatch to the Addison Consolidated Dispatch Center (ACDC).

•

Criminal Sexual Assault (Non-Aggravated): This crime appears to be consistent in the last three years. It is very difficult to effectively prevent this kind of crime, but when trust is continually fostered in the community, reports are more consistently and accurately lodged with law enforcement.

•

Aggravated Criminal Sexual Assault-Forcible: This is perhaps one of the crimes that impact the victim the greatest. The social cohesion in the apartment complexes has helped minimize and nearly eliminate this kind of crime. Several U-Visa petitions have been received in last four years, because of crimes of this nature that occurred years ago.

•

Aggravated Robbery: The business community that normally becomes target of this kind of crime has become extra vigilant and aware of their clientele. They also report suspicious activity at a consistently high rate. The low numbers are positive for Bensenville, since many suburbs near the airport are experiencing an increase in this form of violent crime.

•

Armed Robbery: A decrease was noticed from 2013 to 2015. In 2016, a spike to four instances of such crimes was documented. The extra police saturation in areas of the City of Chicago has pushed some of the crime out to the suburbs.

Lately, gas stations and fast food restaurants on busy streets have been targeted. This is a trend in the region. Active visibility of police presence and crime prevention training has helped.

•

Robbery: This kind of crime, more often than not, even with low numbers, can happen anywhere in Bensenville. An increasing effort since the comprehensive program was installed has been to encourage people to report suspicious people and cars. This creates a problem for criminal planning processes. The low numbers are great news for Bensenville, with a lot of 24/7 businesses in town.

•

Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault: A decreasing number to zero in the last two years. Since this again affects the most vulnerable in Bensenville, parenting classes are regularly provided in Spanish to the migrant communities. The CPC has been providing crime prevention tips and presentations that cover this potential crime to special education students as well. The schools and professionals working there are doing a consistently thorough and effective job, as well.

•

Aggravated Domestic Battery: Causing someone serious bodily harm is not a particular crime is not something the Bensenville Police Department witnesses on a regular basis. There were zero instances of this offence, except in 2015, when two cases were reported. © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 52/80

•

Murder: It is a rare situation when a murder takes place in Bensenville. In the majority of cases, there are zero instances of this offence during the reporting of this research. The first of the two that are showing in this dataset, in 2014, was an armed robbery that “went bad” and the storeowner was shot and killed.35 The second in 2016 was a murder-suicide case.36 In the 2014 instance, arrests and convictions followed. In the second case, the case was closed as a murder suicide case.

Crime prevention efforts to eliminate gangs from Bensenville have been a dedicated and concerted effort in each of the divisions of the Bensenville Police Department. In the business area, creating channels to keep businesses informed has been crucial.

CPC has been able to create a dissemination platform that provides crime prevention information and crime alerts to hundreds of businesses. The Bensenville Chamber of Commerce, the businesses that are not members of the chamber, and the members of the Business Watch Program have contributed to a more security-aware business community. Information sharing is the most important aspect to prevent violent crimes.

Outside of the business community are also the residents in Bensenville who may fall victims of violence in many of the crime categories above. All the watch programs in Bensenville serve to distribute crime prevention information and crime alerts in a very timely manner. It is possible to reduce violent crime to its lowest denomination. Violence created by non-residents and residents can be prevented.

Lastly, the work with the landlords (in information sharing) and the work with the members of all the watch programs with their programing and activities are a big part of the success. Violence is a crime of opportunity only when vulnerabilities are present.

Part I-B: Property Crimes CASE/CRIME/INCIDENT

2013

2014

2015

2016

THEFT UNDER

72

90

79

80

THEFT OVER

62

61

57

53

BURGLARY FROM MOTOR VEHICLE

42

39

35

28

BURGLARY

35

16

13

21

RETAIL THEFT-SHOPLIFT

27

21

15

43

RETAIL THEFT: OVER

0

0

1

0

RETAIL THEFT: UNDER

1

2

1

1

RESIDENTIAL BURGLARY

35

22

12

31

MOTOR VEHICLE THEFT

20

19

25

33

THEFT FROM MOTOR VEHICLE

7

13

6

4

THEFT FROM MOTOR VEHICLE PARTS OR ACCESSORIES

11

15

11

0

THEFT

2

3

0

10

DELIVERY CONTAINER THEFT

13

19

10

6

THEFT FROM COIN OPERATED EQUIPMENT

3

2

0

2

ARSON

1

0

0

1

Part I-B: Property Crimes

35 “Surveillance Video Released in Murder of Bensenville Clerk,” WGN-TV, January 21, 2014, http://wgntv.com/2014/01/21/surveillance-video-released-in-murder-of-bensenville-clerk/.

Justin Kmitch, “Couple Identified in Bensenville Death Investigation,” Daily Herald, June 30, 2016, http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20160630/news/160639895/.

36

© Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 53/80

In this particular dataset, the biggest percentage of perpetrators may not be living in Bensenville. The reason why violence may involve a lot of more perpetrators who travel to Bensenville is that crime prevention and policing efforts may actually be able to identify criminals with greater precision. Another variable inside this dataset is that theft of Delivery Containers may also involve organized crime activity by gangs, organized crime organizations operating in the region, and transnational criminal groups.

Property crimes, unlike violent crimes, have more of a local presence. In other words, the perpetrators in much greater numbers can be living in town. Substance abuse may make someone commit a number of property crimes when the opportunity presents itself. Again, crime requires Desire, Ability, and Opportunity. In property crimes, victims sometimes leave opportunities for the criminal who has the desire to commit the crime and is able to do so with little effort.

The following are insights from each of the crimes: •

Theft Under: This particular crime occurs often when people just leave their personal property unattended. Smart phones and other personal property are usually stolen. The dataset here shows a very consistent number in the four years of the research.

•

Theft Over: This crime occurs in similar nature as the Theft Under, except this one is a more expensive item. The item must be valued at over USD $500.00.

This is also a crime in which the victim gives the criminal the opportunity to strike by leaving property available for criminals to take it. Overall the crime appears to be consistent, even with all the crime prevention efforts.

•

Burglary from Motor Vehicle: This crime shows that it is consistently showing a minor decrease. Recently, a surge of car burglaries has been associated to gangs striking in the suburbs. Another more prevalent theory is that drug addicts who are residents may break into cars, so they can acquire cash. Alerts are posted in large apartment complexes the moment the weather starts to get warm to alert people to lock their cars and not leave valuable items in plain sight.

•

Burglary: This crime has decreased since 2013. In 2015, it registered just 13 burglaries. Unlike Residential Burglary, a category that will be discussed later, this one is a burglary of business. In other words, if people do not live in the property, then it falls on this category. Small retailers are also targeted for this crime. The ORD Airport Watch Program members spend a lot of time in the summer in the industrial park and are a significant deterrent to this kind of crime.

•

Retail Theft-Shoplift: The opening of the Jewel-Osco grocery store was thought to bring an increase in the reports of this kind of crime. So far, the numbers show an increase of over 286% in 2016, consistent with the opening of the store. When © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 54/80

analyzing the numbers from the other retailers that report this crime, the numbers are consistent. The increase is for the most part created by the opening of the Jewel-Osco store.

•

Retail Theft Over and Under: This is a newer category for breaking crime. The low numbers do not provide any real evidence to compare with the four years of the research. It is possible that the numbers in 2017 may show these two subcategories of crimes as officers begin to verify cases according to the new law in Illinois of classifying them with over and under.

•

Residential Burglary: This is the kind of burglary that shakes people’s level of security in their homes and city. 2015 showed the lowest number in the 4 years at 12 residential burglaries for the entire year. 2016 the increase was 258% from 2015. The police was able to identity some of the perpetrators of a percentage of the residential burglaries and arrests were made. Crime prevention efforts and follow up in every burglary reported are two things that must continue to in order to reduce this crime.

•

Motor Vehicle Theft: Since 2014, this crime has been increasing. While opportunity also plays a role in this crime, foot patrols, extra patrol presence, better lighting at apartment buildings, and crime prevention efforts with the watch programs can reduce and prevent this crime. In this particular crime, the perpetrator is from outside Bensenville in most cases. An indicator is that the cars are not recovered (when recovered) in Bensenville.

•

Theft From Motor Vehicle and Theft From Motor Vehicle Parts or Accessories: These two crimes appear to be decreasing. Both showed their best numbers in 2016 with four and zero instances, respectively. 2013-2015, crime rings were coming to the suburbs to steal tires from vehicles. This appears to have been stopped, due to arrests. This included tires and catalytic converters.

•

Theft: This crime could have been classified as over or under. Since the data of verified crimes does not distinguish or re-classify the crimes, the research allows for this kind of crime to be displayed as theft, as verified. Because of the low numbers in 2013, 2014, and 2015 with zero, and in 2016 the number at ten, this may be an indicator that this category could actually belong in one of the other categories.

•

Delivery Container Theft: This is a decreasing criminal act in Bensenville.

Companies are becoming more proactive by installing GPS tracking on containers and are also having more secure areas where these containers are parked. There is strong evidence that organized crime is involved in this criminal act. Task forces are also becoming highly effective in going after the criminal rings.

•

Theft from Coin Operated Equipment: Apartment buildings that still use coins are the ones that become targets of criminals. There has been a recent uptick in © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 55/80

this kind of crime in 2017. However, throughout the four years of this research, the numbers are consistently very low.

•

Arson: This crime has not been an issue in Bensenville. The Bensenville Police Department has two Arson Investigators and a K-9 by the name Zoe. 2013 and 2016 showed one crime each year that involved arson. The other two years it was at zero.

This dataset includes crimes that involved individuals and businesses. Property Crimes are crimes of opportunity that can be reduced to its minimum occurrence with deterrence and crime prevention efforts. Here again, the issue becomes how the victims of property crimes can insulate themselves from these crimes. Opportunity plays a significant role.

A person who leaves car with its windows cracked open or unlocked is providing the element of opportunity for the criminal. Crime prevention efforts in all the watch programs are constantly anticipating the crimes that may occur because of opportunities created unwittingly by people in Bensenville. The monthly newsletters and the alerts sent out in different channels all serve to help to remind people that their conduct may give opportunity for criminals. Also foot patrols and extra patrols by the CPC help identity possible targets for property crimes. In terms of residential burglaries, the message for homeowners and tenants is to eliminate opportunities for criminals.

Part II-A: Other Crimes Against Persons CASE/CRIME/INCIDENT

2013

2014

2015

2016

BATTERY

42

34

56

60

DOMESTIC BATTERY

55

53

60

57

ENDANGERING THE LIFE OR HEALTH OF A CHILD

1

2

0

0

VIOLATION OF ORDER OF PROTECTION

13

8

5

20

CRIMINAL SEXUAL ASSAULT (NON-AGGRAVATED)

3

6

7

8

UNLAWFUL VISITATION INTERFERENCE

2

10

8

13

CRIMINAL ABUSE OR NEGLECT ELDERLY, DISABLE, LTCR

0

0

1

0

ASSAULT

1

4

2

4

CRIMINAL SEXUAL ABUSE

6

6

3

5

AGGRAVATED BATTERY

3

3

3

2

CHILD ABDUCTION

3

0

0

1

ALL OTHER SEXUAL OFFENCE

2

0

1

0

CHILD ABUSE OR NEGLECT

2

4

9

6

STATUTORY RAPE

0

0

0

0

CHILD ABANDONMENT

0

0

0

0

Part II-A: Other Crimes Against Persons

In this dataset, a few of the crimes also have ties to disorderly conduct, alcohol abuse, and other similar behaviors. Crime prevention outreach and sport activities can impact some of the crimes, such as battery, domestic battery, assault, and aggravated battery. Introducing self-improvement, self-esteem, and leadership development can also empower the community to reduce conflict with physical altercations and assaults. © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 56/80

Developing better parenting skills in the poorer communities, especially migrant communities, can also reduce or eliminate criminal sexual activity against children in particular. Improving the QOL can also continue to produces low numbers, especially in these involving youth.

There are only a few of the crime types that require further explanation, since the count of most of the crimes in the dataset are minor or register zero: •

Battery: This crime has a relationship to Disorderly Conduct Crimes in many occasions, especially when it originates from intoxication or having an argument, etc. It is difficult to prevent this kind of crime, because, for the most part, it occurs spontaneously and with little provocation. From 2014 to 2015, it nearly doubles, which correlates with the construction on Irving Park Road—a corresponding increase of road-related arguments and fights.

•

Domestic Battery: Unlike the previous category, this is a crime that can sometimes show signs before the incident, itself. Many times, the early warnings are the Domestic Trouble calls for police service, and other times, the report is made by a third party or the victim, him or herself. Since this incident requires bond by a judge, the perpetrator is held to a much higher standard than the simple battery cases. The CPC often offers counseling to the parties and follows up with the cases. The numbers are stable and consistent for the entire four years of the research.

•

Violation of Order of Protection: In this dataset, this particular crime showed a 400% increase from 2015 to 2016. When the residents have high levels of trust with the police, as is the case in Bensenville, they tend to report more of this kind of crime. Larger cities facing higher degrees of violence, for example, may not pay too much attention to a breach of the order, but, in Bensenville, it is handled according to the law. Since Domestic Battery numbers for the four years are consistent, it is possible to infer that the courts and the advocates are increasing their recommendations for victims to get an Order of Protection when possible.

Violations of Order of Protection are therefore expected, when their numbers increase exponentially.

The rest of the crimes show a consistent pattern. Crime prevention, better parenting classes, and access to literacy programming, as well as after-school programs have been able to keep the rest of the dataset crimes low. Criminal Sexual Assault and Abuse do not reflect any significant increase, but still show that the crimes are reported in Bensenville. In a number of occasions during the research, sexual assault and abuse cases were reported that happened up to years before the report was made. Like the aggravated cases that get reported/referred to the Children’s Center of the DuPage County State Attorney’s Office, these were still registered in the research.

© Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 57/80

Part II-B: Public Disorder Crimes CASE/CRIME/INCIDENT

2013

2014

2015

2016

DISORDERLY CONDUCT

89

100

97

120

HARASSMENT

0

3

3

3

HARASSMENT BY PHONE

28

29

29

54

DRUNKENNESS

18

19

36

32

RECKLESS CONDUCT

0

0

1

1

FIGHTS, RIOTS, BRAWL

48

43

15

10

RECKLESS DRIVING

17

6

31

30

TELEPHONE THREAT

8

6

9

11

MISCHIEVOUS CONDUCT

31

27

21

27

HARASSMENT THROUGH ELECTRONIC COM

0

0

0

0

THREATS & EXTORTION

1

0

0

3

OBSCENE PHONE CALLS/OBSCENITY

2

0

0

2

PUBLIC INDECENCY ILLEGAL CONSUMPTION/POSSESSION OF ALCOHOL

12

6

4

5

2

4

6

2

PEEPING TOM

1

0

1

1

CRIMINAL DEFACEMENT

33

30

87

31

IMPERSONATING A PEACE OFFICER

0

1

1

0

Part II-B: Public Disorder Crimes

The return on investment (ROI) in terms of crime prevention efforts is mostly reflected in the reduction of this dataset. While this dataset contains the entire Village of Bensenville, the additional analysis in the four apartment complexes in Bensenville can provide the reader an additional insight into targeted areas when it comes to Public Disorder Crimes. Some of the calls for police service and crimes highlight a consistent number for the four years. This is the case in the Disorderly Conduct section. A remarkable reduction in Fights, Riots, and Brawls are evidence that keeping the community engaged in after-work and weekend sports and other activities can impact some categories of this dataset.

Below are more detailed explanations in the different categories in this dataset: •

Disorderly Conduct: This particular crime is one that receives the most attention from the Bensenville Police Department. When no clear other definition for a crime, disorderly conduct often appropriately fills in the gaps for other crimes. The conduct is what makes this crime unique. In the case of Bensenville, the four apartment buildings experience the greatest decrease in Public Disorder Crimes. Between 2015 and 2016, an increase of 23% was registered.

•

Harassment: This particular crime category did not register any significant numbers. People are now harassing others by using telephones, social media, and blogs.

© Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 58/80

•

Harassment by Phone: This crime category is increasing. While it is possible to charge the offender with new laws, Harassment by Phone maintains consistent numbers in 2013, 2014, and 2015, followed by an increase of 86%.

•

Drunkenness: This particular crime category was consistent during the first two years with numbers less than 20 reported cases. This is for the entire Village of Bensenville. The four apartment buildings also registered significantly low numbers. The summer soccer league has been a great facilitator in crime reduction. 2015 and 2016 registered a 100% increase from the first two years of the program, while the apartments registered the lowest numbers in a decade.

•

Reckless Conduct: This particular category is of no issue.

•

Fights, Riots & Brawl: Along with Disorderly Conduct, this crime category is one that causes many problems for families in the apartment buildings when confrontations erupt. The root of the cause in most of such confrontations is alcohol abuse. 2013 and 2014 registered 48 and 43 cases in the same order.

The second half of this research brought about dramatic decreases. In 2015, a decrease of 65%. In 2016, the number was 10, compared to the 48 cases in 2013, an 80% decrease in this crime category in the entire Village of Bensenville.

•

Reckless Driving: In 2013, the cases were at 17 per year for the entire Village.

2014 registered the lowest, even when there was significant stress on the road, due to construction taking place. In 2014, it registered the lowest incidents of this nature. During the last two years, it is showing a more consistent number in the low 30s—31, and 30 respectably.

•

Telephone Threat: The elements for this kind of crime are much higher than the Harassment by Phone. The numbers are low and have been consistent in the last 2 years.

•

Mischievous Conduct: This particular crime category has been consistent during the four-year research. It is important for the police department to monitor this, like Disorderly Conduct, and Drunkenness on a weekly basis, with extra effort during the summer months in places like Chicago. In cities where the weather is warm the entire year, then it is necessary to monitor all of them weekly and even daily.

•

Harassment Through Electronic Device: In 2017, this is a new category of a crime that is commonly included in Harassment. Since a lot more people are using electronics to harass people, it is more appropriate to have its own charge and category.

•

Threats & Extortion: In other parts of the country, this kind of crime is showing a significant increase. This crime in Bensenville has very low numbers and zero instances in 2014 and 2015. © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 59/80

•

Obscene Phone Calls/Obscenity: This particular crime and report is not an issue in Bensenville. This call for service can escalate into other kinds of acts, including violence.

•

Public Indecency: This crime has seen a drop of 50% from 2013 to 2014. 2015 and 2016 are consistent numbers. A significant amount of information on these kinds of cases is shared among police agencies. Police forces are able to identify the offenders much faster than a decade ago, thanks to the capabilities afforded by technological integration.

•

Illegal Consumption & Possession of Alcohol: This is not a significant category of crime for Bensenville. The behavior from residents in the community is largely at a level in which they remain responsible and aware of their actions.

The police nonetheless still pursue and arrest underage drinking and illegal possession of alcohol, albeit in very low numbers.

•

Peeping Tom: This crime is also not an issue.

•

Criminal Defacement: Gang graffiti, vandalism, are consistent in the 30s range during three of the four years. In year 2015, the Village of Bensenville was hit with an increase of close to 300%, due to so-called gang called “El Peso,” which was actually not a gang, but did indeed cause significant vandalism. The leader was arrested and charged. 2016 registered a drop to the typical number of 31.

•

Impersonating a Peace Officer: This rarely occurred in the 4-year research.

Impacting public disorder crimes requires participation from the community.

Disorder has a unique way of manifesting itself within society. When the community is already looking to report any of the crimes featured in this dataset, the police are left with the mostly proactive response that shifts the behavior. One of the greatest insights was that many local police forces see these kinds of calls as a nuisance, rather than an opportunity for early intervention.

Increasing the cooperation and collaboration from the areas in the city that are creating most of the public disorder is an important component for this communityoriented policing model. Areas that are having significant public disorder calls can receive foot patrols, extra patrols, and build networks of concerned residents interested in reducing or outright eliminating this category of crimes. In Bensenville, for example, the CPC noticed that families were most concerned with the behavior of the migrants who were getting intoxicated during the weekends and would sometimes get into violent confrontations. Once the relationship was established with the police, these neighbors were increasingly aware and were empowered to report the first signs of trouble.

This dataset requires significant efforts in the way of crime prevention. In a different approach, as well, inclusion is a key component—especially to run the Neighborhood Action Clubs. Furthermore, the outreach component is necessary in order to engage people with the many opportunities for recreation, after-school © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 60/80

activities, and education programing. Of course, outreach also serves a significant purpose for crime prevention. The start of a comprehensive crime prevention model, such as the one installed in the Village of Bensenville, requires significant enforcement of current ordinances and laws, in order to offer psychological support to the residents who are cooperating and collaborating with the police. Slowly after consistent troublemakers see that the police re listening to their neighbors and taking action by pursing such criminal behavior, their personal and group psychology begins to shift for the better.

Part II-C: Drug and Alcohol Offenses CASE/CRIME/INCIDENT

2013

2014

2015

2016

POSSESSION OF CANNABIS

31

41

27

23

POSSESSION OF A CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE

16

8

16

13

DELIVERY OR POSSESSION WITH INTENT TO DELIVER

0

0

1

0

POSSESSION OF HEROIN

1

0

0

0

LOOK-A-LIKE CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE

0

1

0

0

POSSESSION OF METHAMPHETAMINE

0

0

0

1

ILLEGAL CONSUMPTION/POSSESSION OF ALCOHOL

2

4

6

2

POSSESSION OF DRUG EQUIPMENT

13

5

9

8

Part II-C: Drug and Alcohol Offenses

In this dataset, the Possession of Cannabis shows a consistent number that goes up to 41 in 2014, drops significantly in 2015, and is close to 50% of 2014 by the end of 2016. The Bensenville Police Department was proactive years ago to charge people in possession of small amounts of cannabis with a Village Ordinance ticket, as opposed to the state charge. The current trend in the U.S. is to decriminalize cannabis to the point that small possession for self-consumption would not be penalized. For a municipality the size of Bensenville, with significant traffic and road infrastructure, the numbers of drug-related cases remain quite low.

Another insight was that the Heroin Epidemic has been a major problem for many suburban towns all over the U.S., the situation in Bensenville is not nearly as serious. The arrests in the four years of research are evidence that Bensenville has been highly effective in arresting drug dealers. On the prevention side, the early intervention and prevention programing from the Bensenville Police Department and the work from the schools are delivering sizeable results. Some argue that the ability for youth to get their hands on cannabis and the low penalties that mostly lead to no criminal records have actually pushed youth in Bensenville to avoid heroin. In recent meetings with teens in schools, this seems to be the idea most commonly shared.

The following are some insights found in this dataset: •

Possession of Cannabis: In this category, the number has been consistent with 2014 as a year with the highest number of cases and 41 arrests/citations.

•

Possession of a Controlled Substance: This is a particularly interesting crime category that, in the past, has been significantly higher. In 2014, a decrease of © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 61/80

50% was noted and then an increase to 16 cases—a little over one case a month. Overall, for a large town like Bensenville, these are good results. DuMeg and the Directed Patrol, as well as the DuPage County Anti-Gang unit, are doing a great job in pursuing drug dealing suspects.

•

Delivery or Possession with Intent to Deliver: This is not a significant issue.

This reflects the comprehensive efforts to target the root of the problem and offer after-school opportunities. When drug dealers are notified, the Directed Patrol and the Detective Division can immediately launch a strategy to obtain an arrest.

•

Possession of Heroin: Only in 2013, the police department registered one arrest. The remaining years show zero. Overall, this is ideal for Bensenville, during a time in which the heroin epidemic is getting worse throughout the U.S.

•

Look-A-Like Controlled Substance: Not an issue in this category either.

•

Possession of Methamphetamine: It is a remarkable success from the Bensenville Police Department to show one arrest in 2016 with zero in 2013, 2014, and 2015. Meth is still a major problem in most cities.

•

Illegal Consumption/Possession of Alcohol: The Village of Bensenville is not having any significant problems with this either. Underage drinking is reported in the summer, but only in a few cases does it result in an arrest. Social cohesion and the positive relationships with the police department encourages citizens to hold themselves to a high standard of public order.

•

Possession of Drug Equipment: This particular crime often goes along with possession of cannabis. Not a significant problem for the Village of Bensenville.

There is one important insight obtained during meetings with Padres Unidos of Fenton and the summer soccer league. Latinos in Bensenville are influenced by two factors when it comes to illegal drugs. The first one has to do with their social upbringing. Inside this social upbringing, the high levels of violence in Mexico, in particular with the drug cartels, cause the youth to avoid hard drugs. Latino youth and adults can associate the violence in Mexico and in the City of Chicago to the high demand of heroin. A second possible influencer is that the schools in Bensenville have been doing a great job in the area of drug prevention, as previously discussed.

The schools in Bensenville consist of an approximately 60% Hispanic student body. These demographics, because of the influencers above, could be tilting the scales with their own avoidance of highly addictive drugs, such as heroin. The SROs and the school staff are also doing a lot of proactive early intervention. On the side of law enforcement, the Bensenville Police Department is influencing drug prevention and alcohol abuse with the Neighborhood Watch, Student Watch, and the Organizations Watch programs.

© Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 62/80

Part II-D: White Collar Crimes CASE/CRIME/INCIDENT

2013

2014

2015

2016

FRAUD

41

30

56

50

DECEPTIVE PRACTICES

19

23

12

14

CREDIT CARD FRAUD

33

16

15

30

IDENTITY THEFT

19

17

17

24

THEFT OF LABOR OR SERVICES

7

7

7

14

FORGERY

6

4

8

6

EMBEZZLEMENT

0

0

0

0

COMPUTER FRAUD

1

0

0

1

Part II-D: White Collar Crimes

This dataset has a lot more to do with modern crimes than the traditional crimes, prior to the invention of personal computing, the Internet, and mobile telecommunications. A significant crime prevention effort by the Bensenville Police Department in Part II-D has taken place, in order to keep people informed of the latest scams. In addition to social media and other platforms, the members of the neighborhood watch program also receive a monthly Crime Prevention Newsletter via regular mail. The importance of using regular mail is to ensure that people who do not email or utilize social media can be informed of white-collar crimes and common street crimes, as well. Regular mail is a delivery form with which everyone is in Bensenville.

With an aging population in Bensenville, the elderly are a lot more vulnerable to modern crimes, which rely heavily in the art of deception and fraud. In addition, the monthly newsletter is handed out to each one of the attendees of the monthly Senior Luncheon in an effort also to reach to a group that often may not be involved in the neighborhood watch program.

All the independent living and retirement properties in Bensenville also receive the monthly newsletters for distribution to their respective tenants. These facilities also host a quarterly crime prevention workshop, in which members of the police department can cover crime prevention and current scams. In this dataset, every one of the crime prevention watch groups can be affected.

The following are some insights found in this dataset: •

Fraud: This particular crime has been fluctuating in its occurrence. The CPC is able to deliver prompt and widespread alerts when required by leveraging the lists from the Village Hall. While the numbers are low, relative to the number of residents living in Bensenville, a lot of the crime prevention and outreach are focused on informing people.

•

Deceptive Practices: This category of crime has been lower in the four years of this research, due to the work with businesses that cash checks from people.

The CPC has been educating these commercial entities to increase their security methods and check verification systems. © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 63/80

•

Credit Card Fraud: In this dataset, the Bensenville Police Department has seen an increase in reports of 100% from 2015 to 2016. The problem has been that many of the businesses that use credit cards and, in particular, ATM machines have not upgraded their systems. This causes a number of vulnerabilities. Using a card chip is the most effective way of preventing cloning of cards, as well as making it harder for criminals to steal the card numbers and pin.

•

Identity Theft: This category is one of those instances that take time to determine the occurrence of a crime. The CPC, a number of times during the year, disseminates in the newsletter information on how to order credit reports.

This is an important way for residents to identify potential problems. Every victim is also given additional support, including a toolkit to begin to repair the damage.

•

Theft of Labor or Services: This crime saw an increase of 100% from 2015 to 2016. With 14 cases a year in 2016, it is still a low number when compared to the hundreds of businesses in Bensenville and the thousands of labor and services that are provided.

•

Forgery: This crime category is also a crime that is stable. The same measures have been promoted as in the Deceptive Practices, in order for businesses to identify forgery.

•

Embezzlement: This crime category registered zero cases in the four years.

•

Computer Fraud: This crime is not a problem in Bensenville. One crime in 2013 and one crime in 2016. Zero crimes were registered in 2014 and 2015. The monthly newsletters also include practical advice for people to get their anti-virus software up-to-date.

Many police departments have been running with policing practices of the 1960s without investing in developing at least a few of their personnel to deal with some of the modern crimes of 2017. After the Internet became ubiquitous in daily routines, criminals also began to exploit any opportunities to take advantage and commit crime. The definition of the white-collar crime means the criminal does not employ conventional physical force in committing an offence against a victim in the streets, themselves. The white-collar criminals are more sophisticated and, today, they use the Internet and anything that give them access to people’s private and public information.

Effectively identifying the most vulnerable in Bensenville and increasing the crime prevention efforts took little time. Creating the channels of communication to distribute the crime prevention information took the most time to develop. It requires a lot more collaboration from other relevant stakeholders. Crime prevention for the elderly also means low technology approaches and the use of presentations and regular mail.

© Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 64/80

Part II-E: All Other Crimes CASE/CRIME/INCIDENT

2013

2014

2015

2016

CRIMINAL TRESPASS TO VEHICLE

6

3

4

6

CRIMINAL DAMAGE TO VEHICLE

25

9

35

54

HARASSMENT

0

3

3

3

CRIMINAL DAMAGE TO PROPERTY

47

33

49

48

HOME INVASION

0

2

0

0

STALKING

0

0

0

2

INTIMIDATION

1

1

0

1

VIOLATION OF ORDER OF PROTECTION

13

8

5

20

UNLAWFUL USE OF A WEAPON

2

0

0

3

CRIMINAL TRESPASS TO PROPERTY

4

8

14

15

CRIMINAL DAMAGE TO MOTOR VEHICLE

49

31

2

9

UNLAWFUL VISITATION INTERFERENCE

2

10

8

13

EXTORTION

0

0

0

0

KIDNAPPING

0

1

0

0

AGGRAVATED KIDNAPPING

0

1

0

0

THREATS & EXTORTION

1

0

0

3

PREDATORY CRIMINAL SEXUAL ASSAULT

3

1

0

0

POSSESSION OF STOLEN PROPERTY

2

1

0

0

Part II-E: All Other Crimes

This dataset is an interesting blend of calls for service and crimes that could be impacted with crime prevention, but the ones that show the larger numbers mostly have to do with damage to vehicle and property, as well as violations of order of protections.

The other crimes included in Part II-E that could be related to violence do not show any sufficient concern. The lack of gang activity and organized crime having any territorial disputes in Bensenville or physical presence in the streets offers the best evidence in this dataset that a holistic approach to crime prevention works.

The communities that are the least socioeconomically well off, such as the four apartment complexes that were analyzed individually, have been able to detect and remove criminal elements with their own efforts. Additionally, the landlords possess significant awareness with the Neighborhood Action Clubs as they view them as their extra eyes and ears, when they are not there. When such mechanisms are not sufficient, the police are then engaged and they come out to address any of the reports by the community. The Bensenville Police Directed Patrol Division and DuMeg have been doing a great job building cases in Bensenville the moment a drug dealer, for instance, is reported. There is no need to further detail any of the crimes in this dataset.

© Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 65/80

Community Initiated by Calling-Crime Prevention CASE/CRIME/INCIDENT

2013

2014

2015

2016

LOUD NOISE COMPLAINT

397

407

319

315

SUSPICIOUS AUTO

330

296

307

253

SUSPICIOUS PERSON

324

238

217

265

OTHER TROUBLE

142

110

207

155

DOMESTIC TROUBLE

479

429

370

412

SUSPICIOUS INCIDENT

187

145

162

153

SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES

16

9

17

15

SUSPICIOUS NOISE

26

29

26

24

LOUD MUSIC/NOISE FROM VEHICLE

10

17

3

2

NEIGHBORHOOD TROUBLE

146

179

125

100

OFFICER STAND-BY

1

1

4

6

TEEN DISTURBANCE

10

6

19

12

DOMESTIC OTHER (STANDBY)

7

7

9

6

RECKLESS DRIVING

17

6

31

30 70

DISTURBANCE

27

19

55

SPEEDING AUTOS

187

149

12

2

SOLICITORS/SALESMAN VIOLATION

55

44

51

50

911 HANG-UP/HANG UP CALLS

31

21

8

5

E911 DEAD CALL-HANG-UP

81

77

87

134

E911 DEAD CALL-INVESTIGATED JUVENILE PROBLEM/PREVENTATIVE CALL

1

4

9

7

9

11

4

4

Community Initiated by Calling-Crime Prevention

This dataset is the one that that highlights the best “Return on Investment” when it comes to community-oriented policing. The modeling created in the four-year research was intended to measure the amount of cooperation and collaboration for the communities. When a person calls the police to report any of the calls in this chart, it is because the police department has established a continually sufficient level of trust with the community. This trust can be evidenced by the ways people report crime and other suspicious activities. A lot of the calls for service in this Crime Prevention Category may not result in anything of law enforcement substance. The real value here is the prevention and deterrence factors that result in the response by the police to one of the calls. An encounter with the police during one of these calls in most cases, at the very least, can foster a dynamic trust between police and the community (in this case, the people who are calling and the people who are encountered).

The insight gained in this dataset is also the reasons why people call during the year. With over 2000 calls a year throughout this dataset, this means that people are directing police to specific locations and situations. For a town the size of Bensenville, this is a remarkable number. The other benefit of analyzing the crime prevention calls generated by the community is that this number can be used to compare against all the © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 66/80

crimes from Part I and Part II, in order to see how proactive the police department really is by means of quantitative evaluation. It is also possible to anticipate anytime that an external motivator is generated, such as a film in which cars are driven negligently fast (no going to mention any titles), young people may act more recklessly than trends indicate. Reckless driving reports are nonetheless consistent over the last 2 years.

Looking at the speeding auto reports, it is possible to deduce that, during 2013 and 2014, something caused 187 and 149 reports, respectively. Then, in 2015 and 2016, the numbers went down to 12 and 2, respectively. In 2014, the Village of Bensenville had a campaign to “Pledge” to NOT text while driving. The CPC and Village trustees would go to Fenton High School and provide pledges. Also the laws began to get much stricter for young drivers. Lastly, this dataset is one of the most significant, because it provides in numbers a picture of the cooperation and collaboration of the communities in Bensenville with law enforcement. If one of these figures appears to be increasing then more outreach is necessary.

The moment this number goes under 50% compared to all Part I and Part II, then the entire police department must be engaged to increase the crime prevention calls back to over 50%. The patrol division is exceptional for visibility and giving them the freedom to show up to community events is crucial. An incident number all police department must be looking for depends on the challenges they are facing. In a town or precinct with 20,000 people, a 60% figure is optimal, while reducing crime in the first two years it may not be possible. The four-year benchmark is an important one to keep in mind where the number must be at 60%. The moment more inclusion takes place, the same community involved with the police department shifts their own commitment to collaborators. Accordingly, this also causes an increase in reporting to the police.

Officer Initiated Crime Prevention CASE/CRIME/INCIDENT

2013

2014

2015

2016

SECURITY CHECK RESIDENTIAL (OFFICER INITIATED)

338

593

721

765

SECURITY CHECK RESIDENTIAL (OFFICER DISPATCHED)

325

22

100

60

BUILDING CHECK (OFFICER INITIATED)

104

97

48

32

SECURITY CHECK INDUSTRIAL (OFFICER INITIATED)

33

28

46

62

SECURITY CHECK-BAR (OFFICER INITIATED)

30

3

7

4

SECURITY CHECK INDUSTRIAL (OFFICER DISPATCHED)

15

3

20

7

EXTRA PATROL-BUSINESS (OFFICER INITIATED)

5

0

0

8

VACANT HOUSE CHECK (OFFICER INITIATED)

4

2

11

1

EXTRA PATROL-RESIDENTIAL (OFFICER INITIATED)

1

0

4

7

SECURITY CHECK/SURVEY (OFFICER INITIATED)

0

6

0

1

FOOT PATROL (OFFICER INITIATED)

0

0

2

5

Officer Initiated Crime Prevention

This dataset is not, in itself, conclusive, as police officers on patrol only generate a call for service or security call for service on a few occasions. The numbers in this dataset may not provide any substantive insight, because there is no formula to indicate the percentage of times officers actually pull a number. A survey could have been © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 67/80

emailed to the officers in order to determine a formula for this dataset that handles the variable but it was not done in Bensenville. This is recommended for larger cities that have variables, such as this one, in order to provide a more comprehensive analysis.

There is a value that can be extracted for analysis from Officer Initiated Crime Prevention activities that get registered, and highlight the importance of pulling a number. Reporting security checks, for example, in key apartment buildings is highly recommended, as these numbers can be put into a report for the owners and managers of the building—especially when their complaint may be that they never see a police car in their apartment complex.

The following are recommended locations that should be reasons to pull a number to track better crime prevention from police: Apartment buildings, intersections that experience significant collisions, gas stations (and more importantly, any establishment open 24 hours a day), government buildings, parks, and properties that have experienced crime in the last 30 days. The industrial parks that are deserted in the weekend require a lot more patrolling than during the week. Some software has been developed to provide a predictive patrol schedule for officers, but smaller departments the size of Bensenville simply cannot afford it.

This is the main reason for creating a dataset for where crime is occurring in the previous 30 days, in order to implement a predictive patrolling routine. Raids Online, now also called LexisNexis Crime Map, and Crime Reports are programs used by the Bensenville Police Department that can display crime with over 20 crime categories over a map. This is a great way to create situational awareness and some kind of predictive policing patterns.

Summary of All Dataset Categories Category of Dataset

2013

2014

2015

2016

Community Initiated by Calling Crime Prevention

2483

2204

2042

2020

Officer Initiated Crime Prevention Activities (# Pulled)

855

754

959

952

Part I-A: Crimes Against Persons (Violent Crimes)

21

17

19

23

Part I-B: Property Crimes

331

322

265

313

Part II-A: Other Crimes Against Persons

133

130

155

176

Part II-B: Public Disorder Crimes

290

274

341

332

Part II-C: Drug and Alcohol Offenses

63

59

59

47

Part II-D: White Collar Crimes

126

97

115

139

Part II-E: All Other Crimes

155

112

120

177

PART I AND II ALL CRIMES

1119

1011

1074

1207

The Summary of All Dataset Categories illustrates quantitative insights. The first finding is that the Community Initiated By Calling Crime Prevention reports show a Š Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 68/80

consistent amount of reporting. This also illustrates a direct correlation to the summary of all Part I and Part II crimes. In year 2013, calls generated by the community reporting an incidence in the crime prevention category were 2483, compared to 2020 in 2016.

The Part I and Part II Crimes also demonstrate a smaller number in 2013 and a small increase each year, until reaching 2017 incidents in 2016, while the crime prevention calls were also decreasing gradually.

In the Bensenville Police Department, examining the data and analyzing trends and consistencies has been crucial during the four-year research. A vast scope of insights can be obtained from some of the data that would not be possible without using Cause and Effect modeling in community policing. The three key components of Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion are powerful and ultimately effective activities that, when combined with one another, can create powerful synergies. In terms of handling violence by increasing cooperation and collaboration by using inclusion extensively to create community support, is the best and most efficient approach.

It is counterproductive to rely on conventional gang suppression, police saturation, and general hard policing practices, without a holistic approach beyond making the next arrest. This dataset can be used for the last 12 months to see how the police department is progressing at any given time. It is recommended that areas of high violence be monitored daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly. The goal is to be a proactive police department or precinct with over 60% of the crime prevention calls being generated by the community.

Visual Chart of the Crime Prevention Calls vs. Part I and Part II in the 4 Years.

CRIME PREVENTION CALLS VS PART I & II 2013 COMMUNITY INITIATED BY CALLING (CRIME PREVENTION)

767, 22% 336, 9% 2483, 69%

PART I (ALL CRIMES PART I-A & 1B)

CRIME PREVENTION CALLS VS PART I & II 2015 COMMUNITY INITIATED BY CALLING (CRIME PREVENTION)

790, 25%

284, 9%

2042, 66%

PART I (ALL CRIMES PART I-A & 1B)

CRIME PREVENTION CALLS VS PART I & II 2014 COMMUNITY INITIATED BY CALLING (CRIME PREVENTION)

672, 21%

339, 10% 2204, 69%

PART I (ALL CRIMES PART I-A & 1B)

CRIME PREVENTION CALLS VS PART I & II 2016 COMMUNITY INITIATED BY CALLING (CRIME PREVENTION)

871, 27%

336, 10%

2020, 63%

PART I (ALL CRIMES PART I-A & 1B)

44

© Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 69/80

The Part I-A Crimes Against Person (Violent Crimes) also reveals a consistent amount in the 4 years. This is important, as, during the initial two years of the deployment of the programs, the numbers may have been impacted by the participation of the community, and an increase of participation correspondingly means more calls for service. After the first two years, the numbers appear to be consistent when analyzed and compared with Community Initiated By Calling Crime Prevention vs. All Part I and II Crimes. Not including the crime prevention numbers generated by the police officers, is an isolating variable that cannot demonstrate with certainty how proactive the police department is by the calls generated by the community when compared with all the categories. This is an important finding within this research.

The broadly proactive Bensenville Police Department is directed by the community in each of the four years, with over 60% response to incidents in the public streets and roads, government buildings, private properties, suspicious people and cars.

As long as the police department maintains at least 51% of the activity falling in the Crime Prevention Category, then the police department in question is still considered proactive. During this research, a test for Continuity was also initiated, as police departments suffer from attrition and changes in personnel. The way that this test took place was, in year 2014, 2015, and 2016, based on a decrease of crime against the business community, especially the industrial park, the CPC spend less time doing outreach in order to increase the membership in the Business Watch Program. This, of course, did not stop the outreach efforts from the other programs, including increasing programing for the all the other programs within the initiative. The interactions with building owners and managers in the Crime Free Multi-Housing program began to be engaged at a one-on-one level during this disruption/stress test.

Š Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 70/80

2016 Comprehensive Analysis of Crime Prevention Efforts: Four Apartment Complexes.

By Joel Vargas, Crime Prevention Coordinator PURPOSE OF THIS REPORT This report was created to highlight the positive influence of the summer soccer league in four apartment complexes in Bensenville, along with the other comprehensive crime prevention efforts that include Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion. The first time we measured this kind of activity was in 2014. The impact then was significant with some complexes experiencing a decrease in crime of over 90%. The Bensenville Soccer League has been running for a number of years with the partnership of Liga de Futbol Latinos Unidos. The fields are usually rented from Fenton High School in Bensenville.

BACKGROUND OF THE COMPREHENSIVE CRIME PREVENTION EFFORTS While doing outreach and after inaugurating the Police Neighborhood Resource Center (PNRC) at Elm Court Apartments in 2009, residents began to express their interest in recreational soccer in order to keep citizens in the community occupied.

Residents had expressed their concern that some adults (mostly migrants) were drinking too much alcohol at public venues and causing crime and disorder after work and during the weekends.

Prior to 2010, the four apartment complexes were registering most of the Public Disorder Calls/Cases from the entire village. After some community groups were organized, the first summer soccer league was launched in 2010. The program was outsourced to the Liga de Futbol Latinos Unidos in 2011.

After the 2014 season, the Village of Bensenville obtained a lot of media attention for the success with the league that resulted in television, radio, printed, and online media. Univision and MundoMax (Formally known as MundoFox) filmed two venues and interviewed players on the field, as well. ABC37 and CBS talked about the early successes of the program. The four apartment complexes in the 2013 results showed a decrease of over 90%. One building had only a few calls of service, approaching the point of zero.

37

Steve Miller, “Bensenville Credits Youth Soccer League For Steep Decline In Crime,” accessed February 22, 2017, http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2015/03/18/bensenville-credits-youth-soccer-league-forsteep-decline-in-crime/.

© Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 71/80

ANALYSIS OF CRIME PREVENTION EFFORTS IN THESE 4 APARTMENT COMPLEXES During the summer of 2016, approximately 400 children and 250 adults played soccer on the Fenton fields. We have been able to measure about 60% of the players in the youth league are residents of Bensenville. The 40% come from the towns around Bensenville and conduct business here or have friends and family in Bensenville.

The adult players that play on Sundays are 80% from Bensenville and in the women’s league, 10 of the 15 teams were from the four apartment complexes.

Since at the Bensenville Soccer League there is “No Drop Off Policy,” at least one of the parents must stay with their player or players. The CPC uses these weekend games to network with the community.

The target apartment complexes for this program (names of apartment complexes omitted): • • • •

Complex 1 Complex 2 Complex 3 Complex 4

Besides the significant crime reduction in these targeted buildings, there have been several externality benefits, as well, including an improvement of the general health of the community in these apartment complexes. In alignment with the “B-Well Bensenville” program, the adults and children from these communities have a more active lifestyle. The Bensenville Police Department promotes the summer soccer league that plays in Bensenville and, in autumn and winter, residents play indoors in Melrose Park, Illinois with the same league organizer.

The following are some of the activities and highlights of the program and crime reduction results: •

Reduction in drinking of alcohol in public/common areas.

•

Significant reduction in crimes related to “Public Disorder,” “Violence,” and other incidences, related to actions by adults that can produce an arrest. See report below.

•

In 2016, 15 teams of adult women from the apartment buildings played soccer on Sundays. The feedback has been very positive from the players. The numerous other activities are helping migrant women improve their health and become more socially active and, in many cases, better integrated with the broader community. © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 72/80

•

Significant improvement in community and social cohesion by means of clubs and activity groups formed with the cooperation and collaboration of concerned parents, in keeping crime low and generally improving the conditions of their communities.

•

A literacy program was put in place since 2014, in order to help Guatemalan migrants learn to read and write Spanish. Casa de la Cultura Guatemalteca en Chicago and DUCAP volunteers have performed exceptional work in conducting classes. Their education is fully backed by the Government of Guatemala.

•

A happy member of the community is, broadly speaking, a better citizen.

Employers who hire many of the residents in the apartment complexes express that their workforce is much healthier and more productive, thanks to the sports they play.

•

Significant reduction in the presence of street gangs that, for decades, controlled these apartment complexes.

•

When trouble tenants move in to their apartment complexes, they are quick to report suspicious and criminal activity and collaborate closely with law enforcement.

•

The soccer league continues to promote the opportunities for these players and their families to pay for goods and services in Bensenville stores and restaurants.

•

In this soccer league program, the parents can bring their children to play soccer and they can actually be part of the coaching team, if they wish to volunteer.

The Liga de Futbol Latinos Unidos, the league organizer, handles all dealings with the volunteers and pays costs to Fenton High School, as well. The Bensenville Police is only there to network with the community and to perform all three core activities: Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion. The volunteers are approximately 80 in number, but can vary from between 50 and that figure. The summer league is affordable for low-income families in Bensenville and, in particular, families who reside in these four apartment complexes.

While the focus was on these apartment complexes, players are now coming from all over Bensenville and the towns around Bensenville. In recent years, the league has seen participation from the Polish community who resides in Bensenville and enjoys soccer as a recreational or competitive pastime. Some teams of immigrants of African and Caribbean origin have also joined the league. All the promotional items are in English and Spanish. The staff from the league are also bilingual.

© Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 73/80

ANALYSIS AND METRICS Apply the same analytical framework as in the analysis of the entire Village of Bensenville.

Case Robbery Aggravated Battery - Serious Injury Residential Burglary

Complex 1

Complex 2

Complex 3

Complex 4

1

0

0

0

0 1

0

0

1

0

1

0 0

Motor Vehicle Theft

1

0

0

Theft from Motor Vehicle

0

1

0

0 0

Theft from Coin-Operated Machine

1

0

0

Theft Over

1

0

0

0

Theft

1

0

0

0 0

License Plate Stolen

1

0

0

Burglary from Motor Vehicle

1

0

0

1 1

Theft Under

2

2

0

Threats & Extortion

0

0

0

1

Assault

2

1

0

0 0

Violation of Order of Protection

0

1

0

Criminal Sexual Assault (Non-Aggravated)

1

0

0

0

Criminal Sexual Abuse

1

0

0

0 0

Battery

3

1

0

Domestic Battery

1

2

2

4

Fight Riot Brawl No Assault

2

0

0

1 0

Intoxicated Subject

1

0

0

Non-Criminal Damage to Property

1

3

0

0 0

Criminal Defacement of Property-Graffiti

6

0

0

Telephone Threat

0

1

0

0

Curfew

1

0

0

0 1

Public Indecency

0

0

0

Disorderly Conduct

3

2

2

0

0

0

1 0

Possession of Cannabis 30 GM & Under

1

Possession of Alcohol in Public

1

0

0

Drunkenness

5

1

0

0

Possession of a Controlled Substance

1

1

0

1

Credit Card Fraud

0

0

1

0

Fraud

1

0

0

0 0

Theft of Labor or Services

0

1

0

Identity Theft

2

1

0

0

Deceptive Practices Report/Case

0

1

0

1

Criminal Damage to Vehicle

8

1

0

0

Criminal Damage to Real Property

5

0

0

0 0 0

Remove Unwanted

0

1

0

Criminal Trespass to Real Property

1

1

0

Part I-A: Crimes Against Persons (Violent)

Part I-B: Property Crimes

Part II-A: Other Crimes Against Persons

Part II-B: Public Disorder Crimes

Part II-C: Drug and Alcohol Offenses

Part II-D: White Collar Crimes

Part II-E: All Other Crimes

Š Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 74/80

Ordinance Violation

0

0

0

12

0

153

53

Security Check Industrial (Officer Initiated)

1

1

9

0

Building Check (Officer Initiated)

0

0

1

0 0

Security Check Residential (Officer Dispatched) Security Check Residential (Officer Initiated)

4 81

1 0 26

Extra Patrol

1

0

0

Directed Patrol

6

0

0

0

Domestic Trouble

29

21

5

2 5

Loud Noise

27

7

3

Suspicious Person Report

12

0

0

3

Suspicious Noise Report

1

1

0

0 0

Suspicious Auto Report

2

2

0

Suspicious Circumstances Report

0

4

0

0

Suspicious Incident

7

2

0

1 1

Disturbance Call

3

2

0

Neighborhood Trouble

8

1

1

1 0

E911 Hang-Up/Investigate

6

0

0

Teen Disturbance

0

0

0

1

Drunken Disturbance

2

0

0

0 0

Alarm Noise - Vehicle

0

1

0

Domestic Standby- Crime Prevention

1

0

0

0

Other Trouble

8

5

2

1 1

Juvenile Problems

5

1

0

Station Information Report

1

1

0

1

Assistance Rendered to BFD

14

9

2

3 5 0

Assistance Rendered to other PD

10

1

2

Traffic Complaint Assistance Rendered to other VOB/or Public S Juvenile Runaway

1

0

0

8

4

1

0

0

0 2

1

0

2

0

Missing Person Under 17

3

0

0

1 0

Found Property Report

1

0

0

Lost Article

2

1

1

0 1

Station Information Report

0

0

0

Fireworks

1

1

0

0 0

Crisis Intervention Other

0

2

0

Driving Under the Influence (DUI)

2

0

0

0 0

Crisis Intervention Suicide Threat

0

1

0

Crisis Intervention

0

1

0

0 0

Lockout

5

3

5

Stray Dogs Call

0

1

0

1 0

Death Investigation-Natural Causes

0

1

0

Sick Person Call

0

3

0

2

0

0

0

2

Community Initiated by Calling-Crime Prevention

4

Civil Assist

Parking Complaint

Officer Initiated Crime Prevention

Š Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 75/80

Attempt Suicide Drugs Alarm Call Commercial or Industrial No Driver's License

1

0

0

1

0

0

0

1

0

0

0 0

0

Hit & Run (Leaving the Scene)

6

2

1

Check Well Being

3

3

0

2 2

Auto Accident -Private Property

3

1

0

Patient to Mental Hospital

0

0

1

0

Grand Total Activity

406

161

125

80

Officer Initiated Crime Prevention Community Initiated by Calling Crime Prevention Part I-A: Crimes Against Persons (Violent Crimes) Part I-B: Property Crimes Part II-A: Other Crimes Against Persons Part II-B: Public Disorder Crimes Part II-C: Drug and Alcohol Offenses Part II-D: White Collar Crimes

173

54

95

26

111

47

11

16

1

0

0

1

9 8 14 8 3

3 5 6 2 3

1 2 2 0 1

2 5 2 2 1

Part II-E: All Other Crimes

14

3

0

1

In assessing the numbers, it is clear that a targeted approach to high-crime areas can produce exceptionally low crime figures. Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion are the three activities that must be performed comprehensively at all times, in order to positively impact the QOL of the communities that, in many cases, are ignored or marginalized. In Bensenville, what worked most effectively was adding to the comprehensive crime prevention efforts, the collaboration from DuCaP, and the Casa de la Cultura Guatemalteca en Chicago, and, in doing so, ferment synergies in the realm of collaboration that have never existed throughout these communities.

DuCap continues to build the Neighborhood Action Clubs to keep their residents active and engaged. They handle after-school programing and run literacy classes, English as the second language, after-school activities, and are currently bringing self-improvement programing to Bensenville. The leadership from the volunteer groups are able to access the Community Room in the Bensenville Police Department to host trainings. The Bensenville Public Library also allows them to use their facility free of charge.

While this brief analysis focuses on year 2016, it is possible to experiment and analyze any time over any space in terms of methodology. The last four years are the most important when a program is installed. The first two years, as in the case of Bensenville, is where most of the change occurred. Police departments can empower communities to take pride in their apartment complexes and their communities with the help of a comprehensive crime prevention program, all while developing their skills for them to lead the efforts and thereby bringing about the holistic empowerment of the community in question.

Š Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 76/80

Conclusion These concluding remarks are going to be the more philosophical part of the research project. Some of the visions, advice, concepts, and ideas can be outlined after reading the entire research. Every reader is provided with the opportunity to see this research as a tried and tested contextually-sensitive model to apply within their own communities. The concept of community-oriented policing is one of shaping a law enforcement presence in which the community is part of the public safety and security apparatus, and in which police officers serve as citizens in uniform. The mind shift occurs the moment that elected officials begin to receive consistently low crime figures—the results of the programing when these programs impact the Quality of Life.

It is time to build authentic and self-sustaining relationships of trust in poorer and typically more marginalized communities in which incidences of crime are much higher.

Re-calibrating the goals from the command functions down the hierarchy requires significant professional development and encouragement that recognizes community policing as being the most effective and efficient answer. The second greatest challenge is to find the officers who are best suited to perform the three holistic and ongoing activities of crime prevention, outreach and inclusion, all while fostering a comprehensive crime prevention program.

Police Departments in the U.S. are constantly looking for solutions to their relationship problems with the communities they are to serve and protect. The days of the militarized police force and the authoritarian policing model are over. They are not institutionally sustainable, effective, or efficient in reducing crime and keeping the peace among communities. Human Services play a significant role in improving the Quality of Life of poorer residents and, in particular, minorities. Immigrants and migrants have a lot in common and they are an important economic engine for the local government. In Bensenville, most of their purchasing power goes to the local establishments— especially when it comes to groceries. When immigrants and migrants are offered an opportunity to move from fear of the police to cooperation and collaboration, criminals do not stand a chance in exploiting external factors in the municipality or the precinct for their personal gain. The loyalty of citizens shifts to the police department, because they know that the police are there for them and have their best interests truly at heart. This loyalty to public safety and security as a partnership between police and community is created and maintained by continuing to build trust. Trust is the glue of this partnership.

In Bensenville, the police department, with its comprehensive communityoriented policing framework, or comprehensive crime prevention program, began to seek opportunities to bring collaboration from outside the village and the county in order to improve the lives of those in migrant communities. Some of the migrants living in Bensenville arrive with little or no education and the need for sustained human development is significant. Worth mentioning at this juncture is the fact also that many migrants from Guatemala speak several Mayan languages and their lack of formal education requires significant resources from the community and volunteers.

Partnerships with Human Services providers, non-governmental agencies, and the Š Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 77/80

governments of Mexico and Guatemala, where these immigrants/migrants come from, must take part in the journey in human development.

Public safety and security are crucial for immigrants and migrants, but they need to trust the police first. In following the mantra—the cart cannot come before the horse.

Only after building trust, can there be other opportunities for further implementation, such as education and human development. A lesson learned in Bensenville was that hard policing practices in Latino communities would not get back much cooperation or collaboration. It is a fallacy that people are going to call the police when the police are constantly harassing everyone (painting everyone with the same brush), even the lawabiding residents, who are the ones who call the police. Some cities experiencing high degrees of violence because of drugs and gangs can benefit with the implementation of a comprehensive crime prevention model or comprehensive community-oriented policing program, such as the one developed in Bensenville.

The word “Intelligence” was not employed in this research in the traditional sense, mainly because the word “Information Exchange” is a much better concept than a civilian law enforcement department trying to act as an intelligence agency. For the last 12 years, the U.S. has employed hard policing tactics that have not served the community interest or in reducing relative amounts of crime in the community— because, on many occasions, people just don’t trust law enforcement due to their own unique experiences and perceptions thereof. In Mexico over the last 2 years, the Policia Federal has been implementing a project called “Proximidad Social” which translates as Social Proximity, established in order to change the perception of the paramilitary police force. The same issue is observed in police forces in the U.S., as cases of police excessive force continue to arise over the last several years. In Bensenville, the balance was reached when police officers and command in charge of performing the three key activities crime prevention, outreach, and inclusion, exercise them at the unconscious competence level. In other words, the officer in question must progress through the different stages of competence in order to achieve optimum results in this policing model.

A word of caution is necessary at this point in the conclusion. Not every officer will be suited to be a relationship builder for this program. This means that selecting the wrong officer(s) to run this program is a recipe for disaster and disappointment in both the short and long-term.

Intelligence-Led Policing concepts of targeting criminals are something that can be implemented within this comprehensive crime prevention model. Equally important is the commitment from command and institutional administrations to develop their police forces into professional services. When it comes to adopting police missions from federal agencies, such as the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), local police departments that often deal with immigrants need to be aware that the fear may be counterproductive to a community-oriented policing concept. Missions must be accordingly matched, in order to be most effective. Border towns, on the other hand, can indeed be well served in adopting parts of these federal agencies’ mandates, as © Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 78/80

they need to become a force multiplier to deal with the menace of drug trafficking and human smuggling, to name but two problems often encountered in border towns.

Transnational crime is typically not a phenomenon that the local U.S. police force is prepared to handle, as is often the case in Latin American countries. A more specialized law enforcement apparatus must be available to handle the more sophisticated criminal organizations that operate across the globe. Today, criminal organizations that are operating in multiple countries are increasing in scope and breadth, and they hide in plain sight. Training the local municipal forces to assist in finding these criminals and their operations are key in the future. Terrorism, just like transnational criminal organization, requires the handling of many sources in these communities. Trust is required for the people to open up and begin to cooperate and collaborate with law enforcement. It is evident that the negative and dividing rhetoric against Muslims in the U.S. is going to greatly affect any cohesive effort to get these communities to assist. On the same token, the Latinos living in Bensenville, like in other communities across the US, often have mixed families, in which at least one family member is undocumented, and are accordingly becoming increasingly concerned about local police and their newly-ascribed powers by President Trump in the extension of the Section 287 (g) Federal Program, which allows local police to act as ICE agents.

Removing undocumented criminals from the U.S. must remain a goal for local and ICE agents.

Communities in the U.S. and in Latin America can benefit with a Comprehensive Community Policing Program, such as the one developed in the Village of Bensenville.

There are still pending issues that were not dealt with—for example, the broader police culture. The police culture in many law enforcement departments is toxic and must be dealt with effectively, efficiently, and sustainably. In Bensenville, this is not a significant problem, which highlights the paradigm shift in how citizens view community policing in terms of accountability, transparency, and trust. To employ the community as a force multiplier is a crucial insight obtained in this research.

Š Joel Vargas, 2017, All Rights Reserved.

Crime Prevention, Outreach, and Inclusion 79/80