Arlington Heights Using Website for Community Policing, Alerting Residents of Crimes

Arlington Heights police put up a Hot Crime Map every week pin-pointing crime in the village, on Citizen Observer, and it quickly becomes the most popular post of the day on Arlington Heigths Patch.

Citizen Observer, a website that allows police to post and distribute crime alerts, is popular too with police, as they seen a two-fold increase in the number of subscribers.

The department made it a strategic planning goal to increase that figure over the last year, Police Chief Gerald Mourning said.

Police had 2,238 subscriptions in January 2013, up from 1,887 subscriptions in December 2011, Crime Prevention Officer Doug Hajek said.

Hajek and other officers worked to get the word out about Citizen Observer and get Arlington Heights residents to sign up for the website, which includes alerts about breaking crime.

“We had talked to people who were the coordinator of block parties, we did a lot of fliers at Frontier Days, the senior celebration at the Senior Center. We try to push Citizen Observer so more people can be aware of what is happening in Arlington Heights,” Hajek said.

Arlington Heights began contracting with Citizen Observer in 2008. Hajek has been coordinating the information on the site since then.

Hajek is a Crime Prevention Officer, so his main focus is providing details on crimes aimed at letting residents know what is happening so they can be safe, versus just posting arrests and mug shots. The site also serves as a way for police to generate crime tips. Hajek is starting to post other items like surveillance footage of suspects in an effort to help solve local crimes. 

“It’s letting people know what crimes are occurring, but specifically allows people on Citizen Observer to send anonymous tips back to us on each of these alerts,” he said.

Citizen Observer helps the police department funnel information directly to the community, he said.

“We get information that comes in all the time. It’s more of a one-way street when it comes to us getting it (the information) back into the community,” he said. Police would provide information to victims and the media, but the information on Citizen Observer is specific to neighborhoods, he said.

Hajek sends alerts to the site, and anyone who subscribes receives the alerts. Recent information posted on the site was about a residential burglary on Emersen Street and car burglaries at Chuck E Cheese's. 

The most recent Hot Crime Map can be viewed here. 

The Hot Crime map “has been one of the most popular parts of Citizen Observer,” he said. “It’s another tool, another bit of information to send to the community.”