In an effort to suppress crime, Northlake police have adjusted their tactics dealing with gangs in the area.
The department has had a unit called the Neighborhood Enforcement Team for years that focuses on gangs and drugs. Now, the department aims to get other officers more involved.
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“We’re looking to integrate more of the patrol and detective divisions,” said Deputy Chief Jay Militello. “We have a rising expectation of patrol doing more proactive policing regarding gangs and drugs.”
Along with that, Northlake police plan to concentrate more on areas it expects gang crime to recur, what new Chief Norm Nissen calls “high intensity enforcement zones.”
“There have been some gang retaliation things happening in the area; Franklin Park, Leyden, Melrose Park, Stone Park,” Nissen said. “We know that on a given block, there might be a gang member in this house and a gang member in that house. We’ve been trying to figure out where retaliation might happen next.”
Nissen credits two recent arrests on the 100 block of Golfview Drive on Feb. 28 to more intense enforcement in such areas. One of those arrests was for guns and drugs.
While Nissen said predicting gang activity is “not a perfect science,” police can patrol such areas more frequently.
“We certainly cover the whole town but empower the patrol officers to migrate to the [Neighborhood Enforcement Team] for a night, a few hours,” Nissen said. “It’s a little different than the structure in the past, where there were X amount of policemen in squad cars.
There are four gangs that are “most active” in Northlake although both Militello and Nissen declined to name them.
“For us to identify them is a propaganda tool for them,” said Militello, adding that such information gets used by gang members on social media.
Gangs tend to cross municipal borders, so Northlake police work with neighboring police departments and the sheriff’s office.
On the prevention side, Northlake police regularly interact with area schools in an effort to show students there are options besides gangs. They talk to parents of kids who are most likely to be exposed to gangs, Miletello said. Police also check neighborhood parks daily for graffiti.
Nissen said the city is looking into re-implementing a crime-free multi-use housing program where landlords agree not to allow tenants to engage in illegal activity and renters are required to sign leases promising not to engage in illegal activity.
In Franklin Park, Chief Mike Witz said police are treating a shooting near Prairie and Schiller on Jan. 28 as gang-related, though he added “we’re not sure yet. We’re having trouble getting information.”
Another shooting that started as an aggravated robbery on Washington Street on Feb. 7 was not gang-related, Witz said.