The Allandale Reporter

APD Commander's Forum

Austin Police Department

Central West Area Command

You are cordially invited to attend our Commander's Forum.  We want to share information and discuss those issues and concerns that are important to you.  Our desire is to open lines of communication in order to improve the quality of life within your community.

Tuesday June 9th, 2008

6:30pm – 8:30pm

McCallum High School

5600 Sunshine Drive

Austin, TX 78756

Agenda

6:30pm – 6:35pm        Introduction/ Central West Area Commander

6:35pm – 8:00pm        District Representative Breakout Sessions 

8:00pm                           Adjourn

For more information, please contact Sergeant John Spillers, 974-5708.

Harden the Target - Allandale's Crime Seminar with APD Representatives

District Representatives Officer Kelly LaHood and Troy Schouest attended the Allandale Neighborhood Association's meeting last night to talk with residents about recent crime in the area and what is being done about it. Allandale is now a "hot spot" meaning the number of burglary of vehicles and burglary of residences in the area has risen to the point to where the Austin Police Department is spending more time patrolling the area. There have been 19 burglary of vehicles and 19 burglary of residences in the last month. Yesterday there was a burglary of residence reported on Carleen Dr. 

Officer Kelly LaHood explained to the 30-plus residents in attendance there is only so much APD can do in the area and it is important the neighborhood work together and with APD in addressing the problem. She complimented Laura DiCarlo's efforts in organizing the block captain network and in coordinating neighborhood safety efforts in Allandale. In fact, she said, Hyde Park was the only other central city neighborhood that was as active when it comes to neighborhood safety. 

Allandale Has a Burglary Problem

Burglaries are up significantly in Allandale over last year. Comparing same period this year with last and you can see the number of homes that have been robbed has more than doubled. The number of burglary of vehicles has increased dramatically as well.

Comparison of Selected Crimes in Allandale 

01/01/08 - 05/24/08 compared to 01/01/09 - 05/24/09.

Crime	2008	2009	Change
BURGLARY OF RESIDENCE	16	44	28
BURGLARY OF VEH	67	89	22

Source: APD Crime Viewer:
http://coagis1.ci.austin.tx.us/website/CrimeViewer/viewer.htm

Below is a note from Laura DiCarlo, Allandale's Safety Coordinator, about this week's meeting with a representative from the Austin Police Department.

This Thursday at 7:15pm at Yarbrough Library (2200 Hancock Dr.) Allandale District Representative Kelly LaHood will meet with all interested about recent crimes in our area. Officer LaHood will speak about crime prevention tips, trends APD is seeing, field questions, etc.  For questions regarding this seminar or if you are interested in becoming a block captain, please contact me at 323-6929 or lhdicarlo@yahoo.com.

Thanks,

Laura DiCarlo

Volunteer for Disabled Parking Enforcement Program

Initiated in 1995, the Disabled Parking Enforcement Program is run by citizen volunteers. Citizen volunteers must be Travis County residents at least 18 years of age, have no criminal record and complete a 4-hour state mandated training class. If you would like to help make our public spaces more accessible for all people regardless of physical ability, then this might be for you. We are looking for active people who are often out and about, and while running errands, for example, will be able to issue tickets to disabled parking violators on a consistent basis. 

Summary of Tuesday night's Commander's Forum

Laura DiCarlo

There is some reorganization going on within the police department, and they are moving to a new "bureau concept" in which they are centralizing the detectives and giving them longer hours so that investigations can begin sooner and be more effective. We are still the central west area of command - the reorganization just allows easier movement of officers where needed.

Due the new system it may be a bit cumbersome to continue quarterly forums, so they asked for suggestions about how we want future public meetings to be conducted. Officer AJ Rodriguez will continue as our DR, but we have lost Kelly LaHood. Dana Munguia has been added, and her phone number is 974-5440. Officer Rodriguez's is 974-4527.

Commander's Forum next Tuesday 4/7 at 6:30pm

Just an FYI that there will be a Commander's Forum next Tuesday, April 7th at 6:30pm at MacCallum HS. For anyone who has not attended one, it's a time for residents in our area to meet with the police and hear about new initiatives, crime trends, etc. and to have our concerns heard. I encourage everyone who can to attend. I'll be going so please let me know if you want to ride with me.

In addition, I have asked our District Rep Officers AJ Rodriquez and Kelly LaHood to respond to the listserv about what police are doing in light of the recent increase in crime. I hope to gain more info about this at the forum as well.

Thanks,
Laura DiCarlo
Allandale Neighborhood Association Block Captain Coordinator

Neighborhood Watch

Neighbors,
In light of recent events - suspicious individuals on Shoal Creek today, a break-in on Bullard Saturday night, the incident on Woodview, we need to focus on making our neighborhood as watchful as possible. If you see any unusual activity please call the police - 911 if you want an officer to come out. It is also very important to alert your neighbors either by e-mailing them yourself or contacting your block captain so he/she can do it.

2008 Allandale Crime Statistics

 Crime in Allandale was down in 2008, but not by much. The best that can be said is it's not on the rise. To really understand what's going on with crime in the neighborhood you need to dig into the details. This is simply a summary of the detail made available through the Austin Police Department's Crime Viewer.

The total number of crimes in Allandale in 2008 was 1,202 compared to 1,232 in 2007 and 1,258 in 2006. The table above shows only the top 25 crimes reported in Allandale from 2005 to 2008. It does not show the totals. You can see that Theft is consistently at the top of the list. If you look at the detail, you'll see most of of the thefts are from businesses along Burnet and Anderson. This is similar to what the stats tell us in adjoining neighborhoods. Theft and Burglary of Vehicles are the top crimes. Here's a link to a comparison of reported crimes in Allandale, Brentwood, Crestview, North Shoal Creek, and Rosedale. The number of incidents for most of the crimes is higher in Allandale simply because Allandale is larger than the other neighborhoods, not because crime in our neighborhood is more prevalent.

I delved into the detail on Burglary of Residences for Allandale, because for most people that ranks high on their list of worries. Is someone going to break into my house? There were a total of 42 burglaries in 2008, up from 33 in 2007. You can see from the map, there does not appear to be any single month where the number of crimes is particularly high. The color balloons in the map indicate the month of the year. Burglaries are spread out more or less evenly across the year. To fully understand the map, click here where you will see the blocks and block numbers of where these burglaries took place. What the map indicates is there is higher incidence of burglaries south of Hancock.

Just a reminder that in the past year, Allandale has put together a solid block captain structure under the coordination and efforts of Laura DiCarlo. To learn more about becoming a block captain, email Laura.

Report on Tuesday's Commander's Forum

Just wanted to fill everyone in on the Commander's Forum last night. Handouts were available on burglary prevention, code enforcement, maps of Baker 1 and 2 which are areas within Central West Command, and area crime statistics for 1/08-12/08. In the crime stats sheet, Allandale was listed as having 35 burglary of residence, 35 burglary of non-residence, 132 burglary of vehicle, 61 crimes of mischief, and 13 instances of graffiti. 


Central West recent initiatives have included targeting day time curfew to keep kids at school and away from places like Highland Mall where thefts have occurred, Operation Serenity (to keep noise down throughout Central West Command), and Operation Peter Piper (to clean up Guadalupe). There has also been a recent 

A Home Inspection Can Save You Money

Here is a money-saving tip: SECURE YOUR HOME. If you have APD Officer A.J. Rodriguez conduct a home security inspection and it passes, you could qualify for as much as a 20% reduction on your home owner insurance. That is a savings of $200 or more a year. Last Wednesday night, November 8th, many of us met Officer A.J. Rodriguez at one of Allandale's homes to learn about home inspections. The inspection was at the invitation of Allandale's Neighborhood Safety Coordinator, Laura DiCarlo. She scheduled it with Officer Rodriguez and sent out an invitation to neighborhood block captains.