Naperville Police Fail: “There Was This White Guy I Didn’t Know; Then I Saw Cop Cars Coming Through the Neighborhood”

 4 LESSONS LEARNED TODAY … 

Four lessons learned or confirmed about public safety in Chicagoland today:

#1 Dangerous criminals aren’t afraid of secret police radios that prevent the crooks from listening to police communications on police scanners or smartphone apps. They will commit a brazen violent crime even though they can’t determine whether police have been dispatched to their crime. Naperville police use a secret police communications system from Harris Communications that can’t be monitored by the criminals, news media, and neighborhood watch groups and concerned citizens.

#2 When citizens don’t know there is a criminal at large, they are less likely to report suspicious activity in a neighborhood, and citizens can be exposed to a dangerous criminal who could invade their home or hijack their vehicle, and possibly even kill them to prevent them from reporting their latest known location.

#3 Naperville police and the City of Naperville, knowing that their police communications are obstructed from the general public, failed to inform their community in real time about a potentially dangerous criminal at large running through their community. In real time, there was no mention on their official Twitter account, official Facebook page, or their official website. The City of Naperville DID NOT release information about an armed robbery that occurred at 8:00 a.m. until 6:16 p.m. on their official Facebook page — more than 10 hours after the crime. Naperville Police DID NOT mention in their official notice to the public that the crime involved a Crash-and-Rob scheme. In their official release to the public, Naperville police DID NOT mention that during the robbery that occurred at the intersection of Bailey Road and Shepherd drive, the offenders rear-ended the victim and then beat up the victim.

#4 When real time police communications aren’t monitored, misinformation happens. Because police don’t permit the media to monitor their main police dispatch, they found themselves having to correct media errors about the incident. In their official release to the public, Naperville police DID mention that previous media reports incorrectly stated that suspects escaped police custody.

#5 Automated Reverse 9-1-1 notifications are subject to failure. The Naperville reverse 9-1-1 notification system “Naper Notify Mass Notification System” apparently failed to alert at least some residents in the area about the manhunt and robbery.

 NOW FOR THE INCIDENT … 

Two offenders in a stolen car rear-ended another vehicle to rob the victim motorist about 8:00 a.m. Monday near the intersection of Bailey Road and Shepherd Drive — a quiet intersection in a nice neighborhood with well-maintained two-story homes just southeast of Plainfield-Naperville Road and 75th Street.

The offenders then jumped the male motorist involved in their intentional fender bender, beat him up, and stole his money. The offenders fled the accident scene in their car. A police officer spotted the offenders in their vehicle, but the offenders stopped and bailed out of their vehicle near Aurora Avenue and Thornapple Road.

A perimeter and search area was established and police blocked off the area near the crash while searching for the offenders on foot. Police also received assistance from an Illinois State Police helicopter and DuPage County Sheriff’s police in the search. One of the suspects was located and arrested. The other suspect remained at large the rest of the day Monday.

One resident told ABC 7 Chicago News, “There was this white guy I didn’t know. Then I saw cop cars coming through the neighborhood.”

Police say no weapon was shown during the initial robbery, so they “do not believe the suspect is armed.” Police advised residents to be cautious and report any suspicious subjects.

The suspect at large was described as a male white, tall and thin, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and dark pants.

 IMPORTANT ALERT … 

Cardinal Note: 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 a secret proprietary police radio system 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 blacked out 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.

Get updates from The Cardinal CRIME BLOG ‘Plus’ on Facebook. Just ‘LIKE’ the ‘Arlington Cardinal Crime & Forensics’ Page (become a fan of our page). The updates cover all posts in the 24/7 Crime Alerts! and sub-categories. See all of The Cardinal Facebook fan pages at Arlingtoncardinal.com/about/facebook …