Coming soon to your local grocery store: cops.
On Monday, the Evanston City Council unanimously approved a planned police outpost in Dominick’s, 1910 Dempster St., to help address youth crime in the neighborhood around the supermarket.
Young people frequently try to shoplift alcohol from Dominick’s, Evanston Police Chief Richard Eddington said. Stationing an officer there will deter crime and, he hopes, build better relations with community residents.
“It will let officers interact in a non-crisis setting with people,” he said.
Shootings in the area around the store have killed four young people in the past year, said Ald. Peter Braithwaite (2nd), whose ward includes both Dominick’s and Evanston Township High School.
“It’s hard to have economic development in an area where you still have crime,” Braithwaite said. “Crime makes me afraid as well.”
Some Evanston residents living near the store complained that a police outpost there would also hurt the area’s economic development because it would contribute to shoppers’ perceptions of the neighborhood as unsafe. Nancy Floy, the owner of Heartwood Center, 1818 Dempster St., said she researched crime statistics for the area around her holistic health center and found no evidence of a crime problem. But patients who have heard about the planned police outpost jump to the opposite conclusion, she said.
Another neighbor, Rev. Blair Hall, questioned whether providing security to a private business is an appropriate use of city funds.
“Instead of spending money on police at Dominick’s, why not have a drop-in center where the kids can come and be mentored?” Hall asked.
Dominick’s has promised to pay for the outpost’s construction, according to a corporate statement Braithwaite read.
The outpost is not the city’s only strategy for lowering the crime rate, Braithwaite said. The full solution will include reading programs, better lighting and tactics to promote economic growth. He added that the Dominick’s store at Howard Avenue and Clark Street in Chicago already has an outpost similar to the one Evanston plans to set up.
Eddington stressed the outpost will be unobtrusive – just a phone and a desk. Officers will not be stationed there permanently but will instead occasionally stop by while on duty in the area.
Some residents also protested what they called a lack of community involvement in the city’s decision-making. Mary Trujillo said city officials had missed a few steps in publicizing the outpost proposal. The way in which they presented their plans was inconsistent with the democratic environment Evanston has fostered, she said.
Police have held three community meetings already, Braithwaite said. Another is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday at the Perla Cafe, 1813 Dempster St.
