Naperville Police Officers responded about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 5, 2013 to the area of Fairoak Road and River Oak Drive for the report of shots fired in the air from a white late model Chevrolet pick-up truck. Officers met with several witnesses in the area who related they observed the white pick-up truck in the area occupied by a younger male white adult who fired three shots in the air from a black, hand gun.
Police searched the area with negative results. Any information regarding this incident can be reported to the Naperville Police Department Investigations Division at 630 420-6726 or Naperville Crime Stoppers at 630 420-6006
The Naperville Police wish to remind the public and the news media that a charge is merely an accusation, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
— Naperville Police Department
No charges have been reported. The public safety press release regarding the “Shots Fired” case was not released by the Naperville Police Department until Wednesday March 6, 2013.
Naperville police had no extra eyes and ears for this alleged crime because their public safety radios can not be monitored by media or citizens with a police scanner. The police also do not provide an official radio feed of their police radio communications. This means that citizens with an Apple iPhone app, or Android OS app designed for police monitoring could not have any awareness of this dangerous incident and could not have possibly heard the description of the vehicle and offender(s). The police operations negate any possibility that a suspect’s vehicle, license plates, or additional detailed descriptions could be reported before the suspect’s trail goes cold. There are documented cases where people monitoring police communications have reported sighting suspects after hearing police descriptions of the suspects or their vehicles, and the report by the citizens has resulted in the capture of suspects.
The police and fire personnel in Naperville use equipment manufactured by Harris Corporation. No police scanners are capable of monitoring Harris Corporation equipment. Some police agencies even provide a feed of their public safety dispatch radio communications so that citizens can be aware of public safety issues in real time, but Naperville has decided to keep their police and fire communications secret.
Naperville citizens are at a serious disadvantage by not receiving necessary, and possibly life-saving, public safety information in real time in cases of gun threats and shootings with suspects at large, child abductions, disturbances and riots, hazardous materials leaks that are not contained, terrorist activity, and storm disaster situations with associated aftermath and widespread hazards (tornado damage, downed power lines and electrocution hazards, flooding and flash flooding, building collapses).
Particularly disturbing is the delay that could occur in the case of a child abduction, where the entire community would be unaware of the crime — giving the offender plenty of time to escape the area. With extra eyes and ears in real time there is the chance that an alert citizen would spot the suspect and call 9-1-1. AMBER ALERTS are delayed while they are confirmed and qualified to meet certain criteria before they are activated — sometimes hours after the actual incident occurs.
See also …
FOX23.com State answers Amber Alert delay questions
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