Residents, Police Discuss Gangs, Drugs and Safety in Woodridge

From gang and drug activity to when to call 911, police and village officials and about 30 Woodridge residents discussed issues of public safety at Tuesday night's public forum. 

The forum, the first of three, is a new initiative from the village to garner community feedback. Based on a survey sent to residents, three topics were voted most important to be discussed. 

The first was public safety and gang suppression. Anyone unable to make the forum who would like to join the conversation is invited to do so on the Village of Woodridge's Facebook page. 

Gang activity

Gang activity in Woodridge has seen a "huge decline since 1993," police officials said, though some gang members still call Woodridge home. 

"Woodridge isn't alone," said Sargeant Keith Grabarek, of the police department's tactical unit. "All towns have gangs." 

While Woodridge was active throughout the 90's, Grabarek credited the village in decreasing gang activity since. He thanked the village and Mayor William F. Murphy for allowing the police department to create a tactical unit. He said building and zoning did its part, as well, by addressing zoning violations. 

Showing gang colors and signs was cool in the 90's. Gang members fly under the radar now, Grabarek said. 

The police department's tactical unit works to identify gang members and track which gangs are represented in Woodridge, what the trends and locations are and what drugs are being dealt. 

"We still have to be proactive," Grabarek said. Police Chief Steve Herron said at the forum the department has made 53 gang contacts so far this year, similar to past years. 

When to call 911 

A common confusion voiced at the forum was when to call 911 now that the department's non-emergency number is only answered during business hours. 

The change was made since the department , a consolidated dispatch center, earlier this year. All 911 calls in Woodridge now go to a DU-COMM dispatcher instead of Woodridge's former dispatch center. 

Herron said repeatedly that whenever a resident needs an officer to respond, he or she should call 911. That includes if a person locks his keys in his car or if someone wants to report suspicious activity. 

While some residents fear that they'll bother the dispatcher, DU-COMM has enough dispatchers to handle the call volume, Herron said. 

Police officials urged residents to call, saying residents were their eyes and ears in the community. 

Those residents wishing to remain anonymous on the call were advised to say so to the dispatcher and not give his or her name. 

What makes Woodridge residents feel unsafe

During the forum, residents split into small groups to discuss what made them feel safe and unsafe with police officials. 

The most common answer was groups of teens and young adults hanging around. Other concerns were lack of lighting, jaywalking and graffiti. 

Whether residents felt safe or unsafe in their neighborhoods varied. 

According to the village's 2010 Community Needs survey, 96.5 percent of respondents said they felt safe and secure in their neighborhood, the highest number reported since 2006. 

In the schools 

D.A.R.E. Officer Jeff Bean said in his eight years working with District 68 schools and St. Scholastica, he has made three arrests related to marijuana. 

In one case, the marijuana was planted by the student's older brother, Bean said. 

Gang symbols have been found in the bathrooms at Jefferson Jr. High, he said. But the students marking the graffiti aren't usually gang members. 

"When I talk to them, they say, 'Yeah I saw this in my neighborhood,'" Bean said. "Or they saw it from an uncle."

"We have juvenile gang members in our community," he said. But the schools "do a fantastic job at deterring" the students from that idea.  

Editor's note: A previous version of this article attributed quotes regarding gang activity in Woodridge to Tim Shannon. Those quotes should have been attributed to Sgt. Keith Grabarek. The error has been fixed, and Patch regrets the error.