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Thursday, September 16, 2010

BREAKING: Gunshots near Park & Prospect, perp apprehended


A Plainfield Today reader just alerted me (12:12 PM) of gunshots fired in the area of Prospect and Park Avenues early Thursday AM (today).

The reader was able to spot the perp in the shadows and called police with his description and direction of flight. The police apprehended a male with a large-caliber automatic handgun. (I have been told in the past of drug dealing at the 909 Park Avenue apartment building.)

There was also a report of a suspicious car parked at Evergreen and Kensington Avenues with the motor running.

Also, a reader in the East End reported via a comment this morning (see here) that shots were fired on George Street near Johnston Avenue on Tuesday night.

Though the police arrived within minutes, the reader notes that what was a quiet neighborhood when they bought there four years ago has changed drastically.

'What is the city doing about that?,' they ask.


-- Dan Damon [follow]

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13 comments:

olddoc said...

The fact that all Wards can be the site of criminal activity and that if there is a deterent in one area the dealers will just move to another part of the city is a cause to be careful about committing large sums of money to a tool.

Maria Pellum, Plainfield Resident said...

Wow! We didn't hear anything and we are right at this corner. I hope we can learn more about this incident. Thanks Dan for reporting.

Rob said...

Kudos to the person who called it in and to the police department.
- They deal drugs on bicycles on the side of the library facing the park fyi.

Anonymous said...

Just to make a point - We do not need to spend $ONE MILLION DOLLARS or $ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS per year to maintain a machine to tell us shots were fired. We can hear,and we do see the crime in our neighborhoods. What we need to do is have more cops on the streets and less of them kissing the Mayors @ss.Crime prevention is the key.

Anonymous said...

Amen to that ANON 11:31am

Additional Police officers are much more of a deterent to criminal activity than Shotspotter. In addition, adding more Police is a much more fiscally responsible decision. Personnel can be cut out of the budget if absolutely necessary. That 150K year operational cost is forever. Unless of course we decide to junk the million dollar system. Hell, we can just raise taxes again!!!

I wish we could get rid of the whole dang Council.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, this is going to be a little bit off topic…

One thing that concerns me, when reporting suspicious behavior in our neighborhood, is whether the person being reported on is really doing anything wrong...

I live around the apartments by second and Johnston Street, and I have seen people trying to hide what they are passing to each other (could be drugs, money, etc). However, can someone really report suspicious activity as these examples? What if it is nothing? If the cops come by and they find nothing, will they come next time? I just feel like the kid that cry wolf, and at the end when he was telling the truth, no one came by…
Why do I say all this, well, like Rob said, kid on bicycles sell drugs by the library, but can that be verifiable? Or can the cops be called in such a case where you think someone is doing something illegal?

Anonymous said...

WOW this is truly amazing the minute one incident happen in the 2nd ward amd the felon is taken in to custody the people are ready to give up on the residents in the 4th ward. The hoods are starting to come off the heads. I say to the residents of Plainfield who CARE don't give on the residents down the westend. There are many many taxpayer's in that area also. The Council have given up on them and have not supported them for many year's. I will be walking door to door for all the plainfield elections to come.

Anonymous said...

As I sat in my Prospect Ave home watching my recording of master chef, I also heard the gun shots when asked if I was afraid I told a person I used to live on West Third Street and it doesn't matter what municipality you live in you are not exempt from crime. I'm just glad to hear they caught the person. I don't think putting an expensive machine in a 3 mile radius will solve the problem as it's a known fact that the person committing the crime will just move where they won't be detected. Before we use that million dollar bond we need to be very clear of (1)that it will work for our city needs and (2)the consequences of spending that type of money. We already see the stigma of spending money on the parade activities (75,767) and the town hall meeting (25,000) that alone is about 100,000 of the tax payers money I know we keep hearing 20 thousand but remember there were two checks for WBLS commercials that totaled 5 thousand dollars.

Anonymous said...

When you don't contribute to keep the peace you ultimately give permission to start the chaos.

Anonymous said...

I was going to walk my dog when i heard what sounded like gunshots in the area...decided not to...kind of glad, I did not hear any sirens minutes later though, so either the cops took a while, or they came silent.

Blackdog said...

I am in total agreement with olddoc. The last two times they made mass arrests and put pressure on the west end, gang presence and activity increased where I live in the 1st ward. When all the police activity was near Plainfield ave, crimes including break ins increased by me!

Anonymous said...

To 12:22PM It doesn't matter if they are or are not doing something wrong. You are not calling in an emergency - just the local police number (753 3131). If they are busy they will show up later. It is important for the low life's to know that they are not welcome here, and the citizens are watching to make sure they move on!

anonymous for obvious reasons! said...

We were one of the residents that called the police that night. I say one because we did not see the person but heard the gunshots. So it is safe to assume we were not the only ones. It is imporatant that all residents get involved when we see things going on in our neighborhoods. Like someone said, they need to know we are watching and listening and they need to move on from our areas. There is no need to be afraid. We know that action can bring results. In the past we were witnesses to something that netted over 30 arrests. The police were very careful about not revealing our identities as we identified the perps. It is the only way to improve this city. LET THEM KNOW WE AREN'T COVERING FOR THEM. Call the police everytime you hear gunfire. Yes they came and right away. They were searching the area with flashlights and as we now know they found the guy. We have some excellent cops in Plainfield. Wow Maria you must be a very deep sleeper. It was really loud!