Three community forums will be staged by Aurora police to discuss the increase in shootings that have taken place this year in the city.
“The purpose of the forums is to give our residents a snapshot of crimes that are occurring both in their neighborhoods and in the city as a whole,” Aurora Police Patrol Cmdr. Kristen Ziman said. “We want to encourage an open dialogue between the police department and the citizens we serve because in the end, the community is our biggest ally in the fight against crime.”
Officers from the department’s Community Policing Unit, Special Operations Group and other divisions will offer specifics on why police believe shootings have increased. They’ll discuss details about particular areas of the city that have been a cause for concern, and explain the community’s role in reversing the trend.
Aurora Police Department spokesman Dan Ferrelli said there will be plenty of time for questions following each forum.
One person who will be there with questions is Aurora resident Kevin Trudo.
Trudo said that the recent spike in shootings has him on edge, especially those occurring in normally crime-free areas.
“Nothing ever happens downtown, it’s the crime-free zone. Everyone has a truce there or something,” Trudo said. But on Jan. 16, shots were fired from one car to another around 8:45 p.m. on Broadway and New York Street right in the heart of the city.
No one was injured, but the incident shook up one couple who witnessed the shooting and called police, according to reports.
Then, there was a shooting in a busy Aurora shopping center on March 23 at 3:35 p.m. where one man was struck and injured.
“A shooting at West Plaza in the middle of the afternoon. It’s a little nuts,” Trudo said.
With warmer weather right around the corner, he said he doesn’t imagine things will get better.
“I think it’s time they share some more information,” Trudo said. “Most people I know want the same thing. We want to be members of the community. But, I don’t think we can do that without certain information. We need to know what we are looking for, what we are dealing with, and what police know about the reasons behind it.”
These are questions Trudo said he’ll raise when he attends a forum himself later this month.
“Maybe (the police) are being quiet because they’re building cases. I don’t know,” Trudo said.
Aurora resident and father of four William Alvarez, 31, said it’s time for residents to start stepping up and stop placing blame.
He’s lived in town his entire life, and said he has seen what a great job Aurora police have done over the years to reduce crime.
“Blaming the government and police for crime is like saying it’s the fire department’s fault your house burned down,” he said. “Preventing crime in your neighborhood is the responsibility of the people who live there. If there’s a drug dealer living next to you don’t just sit and watch people pull in and out of there every day, report it to your local law enforcement so they can follow up on it.”
The uptick in violence has been weighing heavily on his mind, Alvarez said. He said good communities have been getting destroyed by gangs and drugs.
“As long as the people sit back and watch without standing up for their communities things will never change, regardless of what type of police presence there is,” he said.
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The forums will be held on Mondays from 7 to 9 p.m. for three consecutive weeks beginning April 13 at the Aurora Police Department, 1200 East Indian Trail.
Those living in the DuPage, Kendall, and Will County sections of Aurora should attend on April 13, while Near East Side residents are invited to attend on April 20. Residents living on the city’s West Side and downtown are invited to attend on April 27.
“The less we criticize the police and the more we try to be a part of solution, the better off we’ll be,” Ziman said. “Apathy is a disease and it’s a disease we have to fight.”
Ziman called for the public’s help in combating street violence, and encouraged residents to show up at the forums and speak out.
“We want them to leave armed with information,” Ziman said. “We need to be gladiators together. We can’t do this independently. We desperately need community involvement.”
Community involvement is something that has been sometimes lacking in the past, she said.
Community Oriented Policing officers said the turnouts to their neighborhood meetings have sometimes been dismal. For this reason, Ziman said she is a little surprised by the community’s overwhelming interest in the department’s announcement of April’s crime forums.
“A lot of people are talking about this, which tells me maybe we’ve got some work to do,” Ziman said.
For information about the forums, call Ziman at 630-256-5110.