The Allandale Reporter

Officer Crowder to be Transferred

The following note posted to the newsgroup by Officer Croweder:
Subject: [Allandale NA] Good News / Bad News

The good news is effective Sunday the 30th I will promote to the rank of Corporal. The bad news is I will be transferred effective the 6th of April. There are plans to replace me, but I do not know if that person will be in place by the time I leave. I will leave behind contact information and information on the list serve's for the replacement. In the mean time, (and I will send out another reminder email) after the 6th of April if you need to contact a district representative, you will need to call our mainline number at 974-5545, one of the other 3 District Representative's will be assigned to you.

Home Burglaries Map for Allandale

submitted by Kelle B

Since we have had so many incidents of home burglaries, I charted the crime stats for us on a google map.

The data is from Sept 06 to the present - so 2006 and 2008 have smaller numbers. You can zoom in by clicking the vertical bar on the left of the screen. Each color represents a year and the legend should be on the left of the screen. If you click on a point, you will find the time, date, and day the crime was reported - hopefully similar to the time the crime actually occurred, but I guess that may not be the case.

Observations:
1) There are clusters of areas where burglaries occur
2) 75% of crimes happened during the day
3) Most crimes happened on a Friday or Monday

Here's the link

Please watch out for your neighbors especially during the day since that's when it seems most crimes occur.

If you are interested in starting a neighborhood watch or becoming more involved with the neighborhood safety committee, please let me know.

Regards,
Kelle B

APD VIN Etching March 12th

APD is hosting a VIN Etching at the Randall's located at 715 S. Exposition. The date is March the 12th from 10-1p and it's located at the Randall's at Lake Austin and Exposition.

As we all know the parts on the vehicle are worth more than the whole vehicle itself, so the help prevent auto thefts come on out have the VIN etched onto your vehicle.

Hope to see y'all there;

SPO David V. Crowder Jr. #4398
Austin Police Department
Central West Area Command
District Representative
512-974-5545

Report on Latest Commander's Forum

submitted by Laura DiCarlo

Hi Safety Committee!

I went to the Commander's Forum on Thursday evening and thought I'd share my notes with you since I didn't see anyone else from our committee.  Actually, when I signed in there were no other Allandale residents on the list, and I was one of the last to enter.  There were about 20 people present - many from Tarrytown, Rosedale and other neighborhoods.  In additon, 8 area officers were there, including David Crowder.  The main presenter was Andy Westbrook and a few others spoke as well.

Home and Vehicle Security Seminar

submitted by Tom Linehan

There were three representatives from Allandale who attended APD's Home and Vehicle Security Seminar last Thursday at Hyde Park United Methodist Church, Donna Beth McCormick, Carolyn Reynolds and myself . The presentation was given by  officers serving the Central West Area Communities which includes Allandale. At the 1 1/2 hour seminar, the officers went over ways to prevent your home and vehicle from being burglarized. I took pictures of the slides with the points they covered and posted them here. While it's not as good as having been there, you will find some very helpful information in  the slides. APD also provided a number of related handouts that go into more detail which I will post to the web site this week.

Home Security Seminar

The district representatives will be hosting a home security seminar on
Febuary 7th from 6:30 pm to 8:00pm at the Hyde park United Methodist
Church in the Fellowship Hall.

We will be discussing how to make you home less attractive to the
burglars that seem to be attacking our communities.

Hope to see you there;

SPO David V. Crowder Jr. #4398
Austin Police Department
Central West Area Command
District Representative
512-974-5545

Help Solve this crime

Police are searching for three men suspected of kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl near Burnet Road and Koenig Lane. The girl was kidnapped in the HEB parking lot at Koenig and Burnet on January 10th.  Police are looking for witnesses. Here's a link to the story on statesman.com.

Crime in Allandale – What the Numbers and the Neighbors are Telling Us

submitted by Tom Linehan

The number of reported crimes in Allandale in 2007 was down 2% from 2006. That’s little comfort to the neighborhood. Ask anyone and they will tell you crime, specifically burglary, is a problem in Allandale. Thieves are kicking down doors in broad daylight and breaking into cars at night.

Pulling from the Austin Police Department’s online crime database, “Crime Report Viewer,” the total number of incidents in 2007 was 1,232 compared to 1,258 in 2006. As always, stealing from cars, “Burglary of Vehicles,” accounted for the largest number of incidents (148 incidents in 2007). “Theft” was the second most common reported crime (125 incidents), and “Burglary of Residence” ranked number nine on the list with a total of 33 reported incidents in the neighborhood in 2007.

Recent Crime in the Neighborhood and Helpful Hints

submitted by Robin Senor

Robbie Paver remembers when he was a teenager and his family didn't even bother to lock the door on Carleen Street. “My parents would leave the door open all the time,” he recalls, laughing. The Pavers have since moved away from Carleen Street, but the family still thinks back fondly on the comfort and safety they felt in Allandale.

These days, residents aren’t feeling so safe. A rash of recent nighttime car break-ins, air conditioner thefts, and even house thefts have caught the attention of many residents and left them feeling uneasy. These thefts are occurring mainly along Shoal Creek and its side streets, but also on non-major streets. And while in some cases, thieves are helping themselves to cars left open, in others, they are doing the work themselves.

Property Crimes in Allandale

It seems that property crimes,  in Allandale are  up based on the number of recent posts to the newsgroup. Property crimes are incidents like burglary of vehicle, burglary of residence, theft, etc. I just updated the crime incident report: 2006 vs 2007 for Allandale and based on that, the number of incidents reported is about the same. Even in the past 3 months, there really has not been a  big increase property crimes. If you don't report it, it doesn't get recorded.

That is what the numbers tell us. It doesn't offer much consolation to residents who are victims of the crime. 

Rise in Crime in 2006

Crime was up in Allandale in 2006. Pulling from the City's online crime database, the number of incidents police reported on totaled 1,258 compared to 887 in 2005.  That's an increase of 42% or371 incidents.

The biggest rise in incidents was "Leaving the scene/crash accident." There were a total of 78 such reported incidents compared to 15 in 2005.  The bulk of these took place on Burnet, Anderson and Mopac.  DWI had the second largest increase in number of incidents recorded. In 2006 there were 49 DWIs in Allandale vs. 14 the year before.

Criminal Mischief, Burglary of Vehicle, and Theft, the three crimes with the highest number of incidents, were down in 2006. There were a total of 83 criminal mischief incidents last year compared to 117 in 2005 and 137 Thefts in 2006 vs. 150 in 2005. Click here for the detail.

Neighborhood Crime Stats

Crime in Allandale for the last 6 months is down compared to the same period last year. Pulling from the City's online crime database, the number of incidents police were called to and submitted a formal written report on totaled 624 compared to 753 in 2005. As always, burglary of vehicles (77 incidents) and Theft (67 incidents) ranked at the top of the list. While this is worrisome, it's helpful to know that over half of the burglaries of vehicles took place in parking lots and business establishments as opposed to residences, and most of the thefts were from businesses. Nevertheless, there were a total of 22 burglary of residences in the last 6 months. This compares 20 burglaries in 2005.

Commanders Forum Report

submitted by John Keohane

Commanders Forum, last Monday night, in Hyde Park, was a good time to meet with police.

Allandale residents present included Phyllis Brinkley, Steven Zettner, Cynthia Keohane, and me. I'm getting to be something of a regular at these commanders forums. This was my third or fourth one.

Speeding on SCB and Stop Signs

I know there was a lot posted on curb extender and speeders on Shoal Creek Blvd.  There have been some questions raised as to what will be APD's response on dealing with the speeders.  There is a plan of action being developed. 

From SPO David Crowder

I just goit back from vacation and was going through my long list of emails.

This concerned me and I wanted to let everyone know about it. Hopefully the TV news and the print news ran with this. For those that do not know what I am talking about, several people have been robbed by individuals posing as city workers.  One of the emails described the a suspect as;

Crime in Allandale

With all the recent posts to the listserv concerning criminal mischief in the neighborhood I went to APD's crime database to see if crime is up in Allandale. Officer David Crowder provided a link to the site a few weeks ago along with instructions on how to pull up our neighborhood stats. In looking at activity for the first six months of the year the report shows crime was up in July - 79 incidents vs. an average of 59 per month for the period as a whole. Here's a tip.

When to call 911 v. 311

From:  SPO David V. Crowder Jr.

Another question was raised. I mentioned calling 311 several times in my recent email referencing the vandalism. A neighbor wanted me to clarify when to call 911 v. 311.

If a crime or anything is "in progress" that means you seeing it unfold right in front of you, call 911. When I was on patrol and 311 just came on line, someone heard an argument in the apartment above them.

Setting up a Neighborhood Watch

From:  SPO David V. Crowder Jr.

I am writing this in response to an increase in vandalism in the Alandale Neighborhood Assoc.. This may not necessarily pertain to your area but it's good advise for everyone.

Someone on the list serve inquired about creating a neighborhood watch. I can assist with that, and they do work. Basically, a neighborhood watch is neighbors looking out for one another. It's leaving the confines of your house and mingling with the people around you.