"We met with the city council six weeks ago and the sheriff's department and the city are now partnering to engage the community with a focus on sustained crime prevention," said Jim Lepin, the coordinator of all the crime prevention forums taking place in Linn county.
So, in consideration, the Linn County Sheriff's Department and the City of Harrisburg are partnering to host a forum once every two weeks for the foreseeable future. They take place in the Justice Center in downtown Harrisburg.
"I'm doing this in every city in the Linn County except Halsey and Scio and this is the only city where the city is partnering with me," said Lepin.
The audience consisted of many members of the city council, Harrisburg Mayor Bobby Duncan, and concerned citizens worried about the future of the cities recreational areas.
Concerns that were put forth were a rash of egging that happened in January, the city museum bathrooms being the site of suspicious activity, and the waterfront park becoming the apparent new hot spot for drug related activities. One citizen reported that there was an attempted break-in at her house so she was scared and wanted to know what to do.
Lepin passed out many graphs that displayed the reported crimes every month for a year and illustrated how it rose in August and has stayed heightened.
"What happened to your town last Summer that caused crime rates to go up and stay up?" said Lepin. There was no answer.
He went on to describe a saturation patrol that took place in the city two weeks ago, where there were three deputies driving through town all evening. There were 17 traffic warnings, four traffic citations, nine field interviews and five "hooligans" charged for curfew violations, according to Lt. Michelle Duncan, the overseer of the contracted police in Harrisburg.
"The problems just about stopped after that," said Lepin.
Lt. Duncan continued by talking about the Focus Patrol that the police use. It's County-wide and focuses on individuals or locales that are especially problematic and have a history of deviance. It gives the deputies a narrower field to focus on.
"All of Harrisburg is on the Focus Patrol right now because of car break-ins, burglaries and things like that," said Lt. Duncan, "It's not that the Sheriff's Office doesn't care about your town. It's not that the Sheriff's office doesn't want to be here. We have to have priorities."
The solution to not having police around every corner was seeing suspicious activity and reporting it as a good neighbor.
"If you don't know you're neighbor, you don't know their habits. The neighborhood has to get together. Compare what you see with your neighbor. They can add to what you see. Get to know and care for your neighbors," said Lepin.
"You need to observe and report. Let's say you see a vehicle. How do you know it's suspicious?" said Lepin. "So who is it, and what are they doing? Do you recognize it? Are the lights out and they've driven around the block several times?"
If there is a suspicious activity, or you have questions or concerns, call the non-emergency police number.
"Include times of day, activities, cars coming and going, people there, and ask to speak to deputies if it's a known drug house. Every incremental piece of information they can get helps. It can build or close a case they already have," said Lepin.
"If it's a long-term drug house speak to detectives. It takes a lot for police to invade someone's home. If there is a car or person at the park specifically then call deputies because it has to be fast and they don't need to build a case," said Lt. Duncan.
Although Harrisburg is seeing a trend in crime recently, there isn't a lack of hope.
"It's a lot of petty stuff that you're dealing with," said Lepin.
"It's not like you see someone getting stabbed at the park. But it's not like it's not important. We're here to make you a very live-able community so you can go walk around the park and your town and feel safe," said Lt. Duncan, "That being said, it's a partnership between the sheriff's department, the city, and the community."
There was a strong push for members of the community to create a neighborhood watch. Currently, there is only one small group patrolling the whole city.
"We're the invisible group. We go out late at night and nobody ever sees us," said Rick Wagner, leader of the neighborhood watch.
Lepin asked the audience members if they would like to adjourn or go over prevention methods for thefts and burglaries. It was a unanimous decision to continue on.
"I don't care if you're home or not, keep your doors shut and locked," said Lepin.
"There were two men claiming to be carpet cleaners going door to door here a few weeks ago, and they had no permit. They were being incredibly aggressive to the point where they walked into someone's house," said Lepin, to gasps from the audience, "The point is, you never know who will be in front of your house."
Two other preventative measures were to get a dog and take pictures and serial numbers of valuable property you own.
"The chances of you getting burglarized are very slim unless two things: Someone knows you're gone or the property has been cased for a long time," said Lepin.
The issue of personal protection was also touched on by Lepin.
"With the current trend of everyone buying guns and ammo I am concerned that people don't know how to use them. If you don't want to use a gun, buy a can of wasp spray. I could get everyone in this room with one of those," said Lepin. The audience laughed lightly.
The final question posed and left in everyone's minds for the night was also a reiteration of Lepin's first.
"What happened in your town last August?"
At a Glance:
Published in: Linn Benton Commuter
Who: Jim Lepin and Lt. Michelle Duncan
When: March 3
Next Forum: March 31
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