Polo is becoming proactive: Crime prevention, electronic alert
 programs launched

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Polo Police Chief Dennis Christen holds up the symbol of the Helping Hand program Tuesday night at a community crime prevention meeting at the Polo Senior Center. The signs are posted in the front windows of participating homes and businesses. (VINDE WELLS/vwells@shawnews.com)

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POLO – Police and other city leaders are presenting three programs designed to help citizens take back their town, which is in the grip of a crime spree nearly 6 months old.

Mayor Mark Scholl and Polo Chief Dennis Christen outlined the programs  – Neighborhood Watch, Helping Hand and Nixle, an electronic notification program – at a community meeting Tuesday attended by about 50 people.

Since June, there have been about 40 break-ins, mostly to homes and cars, in and around Polo. Some residents were in their homes when the burglars struck.

Scholl said the rash of burglaries, including several home invasions, has given the community a “black eye.”

“The purpose of this meeting is to come up with ideas to remove that black eye,” he said.

The programs:

Neighborhood Watch

A citywide program, requested by residents, will be formed, Scholl said.

A committee of three residents will define neighborhoods, identify block captains, and set a schedule of meetings to kick off the program.

“To be successful, this needs to be run by citizens,” he said. “And you need to cooperate with the police. This is not a vigilante group.”

People need to commit to the program, the mayor said.

“I don’t want you to get a false sense of security if crime decreases. It’s hard to measure the effectiveness of Neighborhood Watch and to know whether or not the crime stopped because of it,” he said. “If we decided to go with this program, we need to make sure it’s consistent in all neighborhoods.”

Ogle County Sheriff Greg Beitel has offered to provide training for the program, which was  launched nationwide in 1972 by the National Sheriffs’ Association.

Deb Wooldridge encouraged those in the the audience to sign up.

“If we pull together, I think we’re going to go a long way toward preventing some of the things that have been happening in this town,” she said.

“I think it’s a step forward in what we’re trying to accomplish,” he said. “We need to be proactive and do something before these things happen.”

Nixle

Nixle is being offered in response to citizens’ requests for better notification about crimes in the community, Scholl said.

Nixle provides immediate notification of happenings by e-mail and/or text message.

“One of your concerns was that you said you should have been notified sooner, and you’re right. This will take care of that,” the mayor said.

People can sign up online to receive computer or cell-phone alerts about a variety of events – crimes, life-threatening situations, snow route parking, boil orders – from the city, and from the Polo police and Ogle County sheriff’s departments.

Helping Hands

Some residents may be familiar with this program, discontinued in the 1990s but being resurrected by Christen.

In it, participants agree to background checks that, if passed, allow them to post bright orange signs featuring a black hand to put in a front window that signify that their home or business is a safe place for a lost, scared, or hurt child or adult to go for assistance.

Applications, available at City Hall or the police department, must list everyone in the household or business; checks will be run on everyone before they can participate.

To sign up

Go to www.poloil.org and click on Police to learn more about, or to sign up for, the USAonWatch Neighborhood Watch program or Nixle.

Or call the Polo Police Department, 815-946-3412.

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