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October EPD Newsletter

Thu, 10/09/2008 - 6:41am — Thomas

Eagle Police Department
Newsletter #13
October 2008

Eagle is Back in the News

If you’ve been reading the newspaper you may have noticed a bit more police reporting from our office. Many years before I became the Chief, and for reasons unknown to me, Eagle PD was not reporting police reports to the media. Under public record laws, with very few exceptions, the media is allowed access to most public documents, police reports included. After meeting with, and discussing the matter with the Police Committee, it was decided that Eagle PD would begin weekly reporting of police related activity, just as most all other police departments do.
 
Since we began this a few weeks ago, the feedback has been 100% positive. Most often I’ll hear something like, “wow, all that is happening in Eagle, I never knew!” The paper prints many of the reports that we send, but not all. We feel that this is a great tool to keep the citizens informed and hope you enjoy reading the local news. In addition to the Mukwonago Chief, we also report police news to the Milwaukee Journal, Waukesha Freeman and the Palmyra Enterprise.
 

Behind the Badge

In my 20 years in police work I’ve been asked hundreds of interesting questions by citizens that are curious about our profession. In fact, so many interesting questions over the years that I took the idea of running a weekly column to the folks at the Mukwonago Chief newspaper.

I ran a similar column in a different newspaper many years ago and it seemed to be a big hit with readers. The Mukwonago Chief recently began running a weekly column titled “Behind the Badge.” Very simply, I answer law enforcement related questions of a general nature, questions that may be of interest to a wide audience.

I look at the column as a public relations tool and I enjoy the research involved in finding the right answer. If you have any questions that you’d like to see in print, send them to me by mail, email or call the PD and I’ll be glad to use your question in the paper. Your name will not be published.

Lock Your Doors and Windows, it’s Zucchini Season!
There are two types of neighbors, those that grow zucchini in their garden, and those that hide when the grower wanders into their yard with a basket full of the prolific squash. I’m guilty of the crime of overplanting and have been known to foist my abundance on most any unsuspecting passerby. I wish our only concern in Eagle was how to hide from the overzealous gardener, however, it’s not. A much more serious concern has plagued our community for almost three months and it’s not a gardening crime at all, it’s the real thing. Thefts from unlocked vehicles and entry into unlocked buildings have been more prevalent this summer than ever before.

Eagle officers recently arrested three juveniles suspected in a number of incidents related to entry into cars and buildings. We thought that would have cleared up the problem but the thefts continue. While we work diligently to bring this rash of thefts to a halt, we are asking all of our residents to lock their cars, homes and out buildings during hours of darkness. To date more than 30 cars and buildings have been entered and in many cases, items of value stolen.

All of us at the PD take this matter personally as we don’t ever want to see our good citizens victimized. A number of you reading this have suffered the loss of property. Included in the thefts that we’ve investigated are the following items. GPS systems, CDs, camera equipment, cash and many other items commonly found in cars and trucks. These thieves are very transient and have made their rounds in Eagle, Mukwonago and Palmyra as well.

You can help us by calling in any suspicious vehicles, people and for that matter, any unusual noises you hear at night. Something as simple as giving us a call if your dog is barking at “something” outside, might be the break that we need to bring the bad guys to justice. Thanks in advance for keeping your eyes and ears open for anything unusual in your neighborhood.

Statutes Revealed

Here’s our “ODD” statute for this quarter’s newsletter. 346.94(11) states in part: No person shall operate any vehicle upon a highway when such vehicle is towing any toboggan, sled, skis, bicycle, skates or toy vehicle bearing any person.”

So, it’s safe to say if you see someone flying down I-43 at 65 miles and hour, in a snowstorm, pulling their 12 year old kid in a sled, they’re obviously not in tune with Wisconsin traffic law. And who’d have thought that something that innocent was illegal. Darn, there goes our winter fun!

Isn’t it disturbing that our legislators actually have to make laws like this one? I think this can be classified as “one of those laws” designed to “protect us from ourselves” because, you have to know that at some point in history, somewhere in Wisconsin, someone actually did this. They keep making laws like this one and we’ll have to get rid of the Darwin Awards!

We’re Movin’ on Down the Road

In November the Eagle PD will be located at 121 E. Main St., formerly the video store. We’ve outlived our 400 square foot office. The new PD will provide about double the space. We’re excited to be relocating to a high visibility area and plan to have an open house shortly after we move in. We’ll keep you posted on the progress of the move and the date of the open house celebration.