A community group called Downtown Court Watch aims to:
familiarize the community with the ongoing sagas of the worst repeat offenders to ensure that the people causing the most problems are treated accordingly in the court system. Mug shots of the worst offenders will soon be posted online for building managers and private security to track. The Court Watch collaborative is meeting once per month to update each other on chronic offenders and strategize on how to handle them. They might decide to refer some people to drug court, which is a special court wherein people are constantly monitored to make sure they stay clean. People experiencing homelessness might fall under the purview of St. Stephen's Street Outreach team, a year-old organization that works with the homeless to find them housing and other help. Other offenders might be referred to a special court for people with mental illnesses. And others might warrant harsher sentences, given their long history of Downtown crime.
Similar initiatives in Northeast have withered for lack of volunteers. Eastsiders benefit from a committed core of NECP patrollers, and a tightly-focused group working on problem properties in the 1st Ward. Both groups address chronic “nuisance” offenders in their efforts, but regularly tracking the area’s collection of minor bad actors requires more energy than these volunteers can give.
The NECP has worked to make resources more available. Thanks to persistent effort (some might say “badgering”), the 2nd Precinct now keeps a CLEAN Sheet with mugshots and relevant information about top offenders. In their weekly updates, the NECP republishes public arrest records to help neighbors understand who might be doing what on their street. The 2nd Precinct Crime Prevention Specialists (CPS) regularly issue calls for impact statements and hold training sessions to help our community make the most of this crimefighting tool. All of this information is collected for convenient reference here at the Eastside Defender website.
Potential volunteers or critics might wonder if a Court Watch would do any good. Dominic Bouza, Director of downtown’s Harbor Lights shelter on Currie Avenue, believes it does:
For example, when a man Bouza was forced to confront and move off the street returned the following week, Bouza could simply call the cops because he was in violation of a new geographic restriction.
"That is the best tool I have," Bouza said.
Requests for geographic restrictions are becoming increasingly common Downtown.
Normally, a low-level crime such as trespassing might not amount to much of a sentence. But if prosecutors have the research on hand to prove that an individual has committed, say, a dozen offenses in a small area of Downtown, they can ask for a geographic restriction from the area as a term of probation.
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