COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COMPETING AGENDAS ...
COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COMPETING AGENDAS ...
COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COMPETING AGENDAS ...
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and safety. They argue that increased surveillance of drug houses will ensure public<br />
safety in Oak Park.<br />
At Neighborhood Association meetings, residents and the police have created a<br />
strategy to decrease crime in the neighborhood. The police, who are present at every<br />
Neighborhood Association meeting, have created a “Cops Session,” wherein police seek<br />
input from residents about which streets and houses need surveillance and police patrol.<br />
Residents gather in break-out sessions and list the addresses and possible crime occurring<br />
at these certain addresses in the neighborhood. The police will then publicly review the<br />
list with residents. This list is used as a guide for police patrol in the neighborhood. In<br />
addition, police listen to the complaints of residents and inform them of how they can<br />
address issues of crime anonymously. Many residents will attend Neighborhood<br />
Association meetings to become informed about the progress of crime-fighting in Oak<br />
Park.<br />
At a particular Neighborhood Association meeting I attended in January 2006, I<br />
had a rare chance to listen to a woman speak out against agendas to patrol homes and<br />
arrest drug users. Before break-out sessions to pinpoint problem houses took place, a<br />
forty-something year-old African-American woman, who did not say her name but stated<br />
she was a recovering drug addict, stood up and addressed the audience. She anxiously<br />
explained that she did not want drug users to be incarcerated because it would only<br />
ensure the abuser’s cycle of drug use. She further explained that there was a lack of<br />
conversation about rehabilitating drug users and wanted to see more programs created for<br />
drug offenders in the neighborhood. She explained,<br />
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