Mount Prospect Police responded about 7:10 a.m. Wednesday, May 25, 2016 to Holmes Junior High School, 1900 West Lonnquist Boulevard to a report of a suspicious male subject who had an inappropriate conversation with a 14-year-old juvenile while sitting in his vehicle. The incident was reported to have occurred about 7:05 a.m. as the juvenile was walking to school.
The 14-year-old juvenile was walking to school through the parking lot of Saint Cecilia Catholic Church, 700 South Meier Road, when a male subject, seated in a dark grey colored Toyota Sienna minivan parked in the parking lot, spoke to the juvenile. The male subject spoke to the juvenile in Korean, and initially asked for directions, but then the conversation turned inappropriate about the clothes the juvenile was wearing. The juvenile then ran away from the minivan to Holmes Junior High School, where the encounter was reported immediately. The minivan exited the church parking lot as the juvenile ran toward the school and headed eastbound Lonnquist Boulevard.
The minivan was described as a newer model dark grey Toyota Sienna. The male driver is described as an Asian male, mid 20’s, medium build with a round face, wearing a dark colored baseball style cap and a black colored shirt. The driver spoke Korean with the juvenile.
The Mount Prospect Police Department urges parents and children living in this area to be extra vigilant in the days ahead and to call 9-1-1 immediately should a subject and/or vehicle matching this description be observed. The Mount Prospect Police Department will have an increased presence in the area.
Additionally, the Mount Prospect Police Department urges parents to use this incident as an opportunity to review safety rules with their children and to report any suspicious activity to the police immediately by dialing 9-1-1.
Mount Prospect did not release the gender of the victim. The Mount Prospect Police Department released information about this case at 10:45 a.m. Wednesday — more than 3 1/2 hours after the suspicious incident was reported.
Arlington Heights Police, with a jurisdictional border less than 350 feet from Saint Cecelia’s property, retweeted the Mount Prospect Police Department alert soon after Mount Prospect tweeted their COMMUNITY ALERT at 10:53 a.m.
IMPORTANT ALERT …
Cardinal Note: As of June 5, 2013 — up to and including the date of this article — police incidents related to the above police agency are not reported in real time or within a prompt time period. Police protecting their realm of investigation and police activity, have chosen to use secret military-grade encrypted radios to withhold their police communications, which were previously open to the public and news media via monitoring of public safety scanning radios — with no known negative results locally.
The delayed knowledge or entirely blacked out knowledge resulting from encrypted police communications may protect certain police operations and investigations, but it also puts the public at risk in situations such as when armed and dangerous offenders are at large and when other similar situations occur, such as when desperate offenders of property crimes are eluding police. In other cases, the delayed or blacked out information inhibits or prohibits the possibility of the public providing early witness accounts before a criminal trail goes cold. Citizens are much more likely to recognize or recall suspicious or criminal activity if they are aware of the criminal incident within minutes or hours of its occurrence. The most serious incident involving dire results would be a trail that is allowed to go cold in the case of child abduction.
The lack of real time information from public police dispatch also weakens an effective neighborhood watch program mostly working to prevent property loss, but also working to prevent possible violent crimes.
Lack of real time information from police dispatch also delays public awareness or eliminates public awareness of general hazards and traffic or other situations in everyday living in an otherwise economically thriving community.
Police have alternate ways to transmit tactical, operational or investigative information, while still keeping their main public dispatch channels open for the best balance of public safety and police safety.
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