Carpentersville's major crimes drop

Tackling Carpentersville's gang problems from the top and keeping local law enforcement visible led to steep declines in the village's major crimes, police officials and community leaders say.

When the Illinois State Police in November released crime statistics taken from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2007, they showed major crime rates in the state fell by 3.6 percent and 8.3 percent in Kane County.

But the rate in Carpentersville for crimes like murder, criminal sexual assault, robbery, aggravated battery and assault, burglary, theft and arson, declined by a whopping 24.2 percent in one year.

Drug crimes associated with street gangs also dropped that year.

Prior statistics show Carpentersville, a village of almost 40,000 people, has seen a steady decrease in the rate of major crimes that occur. In 2006, Illinois State Police reported that major crimes in Carpentersville dropped 5 percent from 2005. Though numbers increased in 2004 and 2005, Carpentersville police Cmdr. Timothy Bosshart, who was head of the department's investigations unit and is now its public information officer, said statistics are deceiving, especially in a town the size of Carpentersville.

For example, in 2005 the arson rate in the village spiked 137.5 percent, from eight in 2005 to 19 the following year. While that figure inflated the village's overall crime rate, Bosshart said one person was responsible for the arsons.

"You have to be careful about what is perception and what is reality," Bosshart said. "I've lived in Carpentersville for 23 years now. It's safe here."

In recent years, Bosshart said the village's relationships with local law enforcement agencies and the FBI have helped the village crack down on gang activity.

A gang crime in one community can often affect gang activity in another.

Bosshart said the FBI began working weekly with local law enforcement in 2005. Their focus was drug and gang activity.

"We wanted gang members to know we won't tolerate them," Bosshart said.

That collaboration helped Carpentersville police to arrest the 12 top leaders of one major street gang in 2006, Bosshart said. In August of that year, gang members kidnapped eight people from a Round Lake Beach restaurant and held them hostage and tortured them in a home on the 100 block of Tee Lane in Carpentersville.

With the leaders in custody, the younger members were adrift, unsure of what to do, Bosshart said.

Some went into hiding, fearing they would be caught. Others implicated gang members, providing police with valuable information on a number of crimes in the village throughout 2006.

By 2007, many gang members had been removed from the streets, Bosshart said.

In addition to the successful partnership with the FBI, local community leaders say the department's increased visibility on the streets is sending a positive message to residents, while enforcing its no tolerance policy for offenders.

"It is contact with the police in a positive manner, not just a negative manner," said Mike Berger, director of operations at the Boys and Girls Club of Dundee Township. "But then you also have people who might be thinking about committing a crime, and they think twice about it when they see that police presence. It's catching things before they happen."

Berger, who has worked with the Carpentersville club, said that in order for the positive trend to continue, the police department must remain visible in the community.

"It could be as easy as driving past a soccer game or coming by the teen center," Berger said. "But the police have to keep connecting with the community and become community aware."

The improved community relations is a sign of the village's growth, said Dexter Ball, pastor at Faithwalk Harvest Center.

"Getting people to understand that the police are not the enemy, that they are there to work with us, contributes to the success of lowering crime rates." Ball said. "The police have a presence that is not just intimidating ... and that's a sign that the community is growing."

Bosshart has had a front seat to the village's evolution.

"The town has gotten quieter every year that I have been here," he said. "It has completely changed."