Northwest Flyer Guys – Part 2

There is more to the fascinating story of a speedy arrest in McHenry, Ill. on December 18 (anyone humming the refrain from Alice’s Restaurant yet?).

A felony traffic stop was made by the arriving officers, and three alleged suspects were taken into custody at gunpoint. The reported crime? “Potential” burglary. The real “crime”? Hanging advertising circulars on door handles!

Where did the arrest procedures go awry?

The arriving officer didn’t get the facts. According to the Northwest Herald, a McHenry PD sergeant said, “Someone was rattling door knobs and that they thought it could be a burglar.” Well, it could have been an early Santa Claus.

The officers, unnamed so far in media reporting, made an assumption that a crime had been committed. Does rattling a door knob, if that is what actually happened, constitute an attempted burglary? Or did the resident just hear someone at his or her front door?

Now, we want police to respond quickly – and appropriately! Exactly what did the homeowner tell the police dispatcher, and exactly what did the dispatcher put out on the police radio or computer? My personal experience is that what I have told a dispatcher is not necessarily what a dispatcher then told the patrol officer.

As the owner of Northwest Flyer Guys drove out of the neighborhood with his two employees, an oncoming police officer gave them “the eye”. As his was the only car on the roadway, he pulled over as the cop turned around.

The officer approached the car and ordered the driver out at gunpoint. The driver and the two passengers were ordered to the ground and handcuffed, then placed in a police car, while the cops sorted things out.

I wonder if the police reports indicated that the officers were laughing about what was happening. Some professionalism, eh?

After the police got the “facts”, the owner and one employee were released, and employee Pete Burwell was charged with Disorderly Conduct. Apparently, the homeowner was “alarmed and disturbed” by a sound at his (her?) door. Now, how does a homeowner just happen to come up with the exact wording from the statute for a Disorderly Conduct charge?

Since the police had already drawn guns, handcuffed and detained three people, how important was it that they come up with a charge? Can’t just say, “Oops, sorry, folks.”

When the officers went back to the house from which the complaint was called in, the advertising flyer wasn’t even on the door. It was on the ground in front of the door! So how did the resident hear someone rattle a door???

Northwest Flyer Guys is a recently-formed company that distributes advertising flyers door-to-door. For example, if I wanted to advertise The Woodstock Advocate, I could purchase an 8½”x11”, full-page flyer and have it hand-delivered to 2,500 doors for only $149.00.

Now, let’s say for a moment, that these guys were really crooks and were actually shaking doors to find one open, so that they could go in and rob, steal and plunder. Would three of them walk a large neighborhood and leave flyers with their telephone number on every door?

Well, they are not crooks. Company policy is they don’t open a storm or screen door to hang the flyer on the inside. They are legitimate businesspeople, conducting a legal business, and helping potential buyers to find services they might wish to purchase.

You aren’t interested in the advertising this time? Okay, reach out, pluck it off your door knob or doorstep, and trot over to your wastebasket. Just think of the free cardio-vascular work-out you are getting without driving to the gym!

What should happen next?

The resident should withdraw the charge of Disorderly Conduct. If he or she doesn’t, the State’s Attorney should refuse to prosecute it. The charge should be completely wiped out of the criminal justice system, including records at the McHenry Police Department, McHenry County State’s Attorney’s office, and the Circuit Court records. Will an apology from the McHenry P.D. be sufficient? Not likely.

The recent popularity of Disorderly Conduct charges “alarms and disturbs” me. In fact, my “peace is breached” each time I read of such an application of this charge. Remember Greg Kachka of Island Lake? Remember the village trustee in Carpentersville?

I like good police work. I don’t like what happened in Island Lake, Carpentersville and McHenry!

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.” (John Philpot Curran (1750-1817), Irish judge and politician)

The Square - How Safe?

Tonight I overheard this - "Some folks from Chicago were in town and went to the Square on Saturday evening. They didn't stay long - they didn't feel safe."

Wow! Right here in little ol' Woodstock.

Well, folks; here's what I say: "The Square is our Square. You should be able to go there at any time of day or night and feel safe. Safe from the punks and the gangs. Safe from skateboarders and loiterers. Safe from unruly people and foul language. Safe from people relieving themselves in the Square itself."

Let's "Take Back the Square." If you are a target or are harassed or in any way made to feel uncomfortable, they'd I'd say that you have reason to feel "alarmed or disturbed" and that your peace has been breached.

Get on your cell phone and call the Woodstock Police Department. Tell the telecommunicator what is going on and request a police officer to meet you there. Point out the people who are bothering you and tell the cop that you want them arrested. Be willing to go to court and testify as to what happened that alarmed or disturbed you and breached your peace.

Start going to the Square regularly and sitting on a bench to enjoy it. And take this number with you: 815-338-2131. Program it into your cell phone right now!

"Woodstock City Code Section 4.6.1: DISORDERLY CONDUCT:
"No person shall commit disorderly conduct. As stated in 720 Illinois Compiled Statutes 5/26-1, a person commits disorderly conduct when he or she knowingly:
A. Does any act in such unreasonable manner as to alarm or disturb another and to provoke a breach of the peace."

© 2008 GUS PHILPOTT

Arrested for Pointing Finger

Did you read about the Island Lake man who was arrested for pointing his finger at a Village Trustee?

The popularity of Disorderly Orderly charges circulating in McHenry, Lake and Kane Counties is outrageous. It seems that you’d better not even look cross-eyed at someone or you are likely to get slapped with a Disorderly Conduct charge. What does it take to get someone charged with Disorderly Conduct? All you have to do is complain that you were alarmed or disturbed by another.

When you visit Island Lake’s website http://www.villageofislandlake.com/, you are immediately greeting by “Welcome to the village of Island Lake – a Community of Friendly People.” Yeah, sure, unless you question the Village Trustees and their agents about governance. Apparently, it’s okay for a Trustee to make faces at a community member in the audience but, when he attempts to point this out, then she has him arrested for Disorder Conduct.

Come on, children.

Here’s what Island Lakers have to worry about.

The Island Lake Village Code at Section 6-5-2-7 reads, “A person commits disorderly conduct when he knowingly: A. Does any act in such unreasonable manner as to alarm or disturb another and to provide a breach of the peace…”

If you read the articles about this incident in the Chicago Tribune and in the Northwest Herald and assumed that the reporters accurately described what happened at the Village meeting, then the defendant is not guilty and never should have been charged in the first place. Obviously, he didn’t “knowingly” point a weapon at a trustee (is a pointed finger a “gun”? is moving your thumb “cocking” it?). He didn’t point any weapon! He didn’t “alarm or disturb” the trustee at the meeting or the police would have been immediately summoned, instead of showing up at his door a few days later and, after that, calling on the phone to tell him to come down to the station. What? The Island Lake P.D. is conserving gas by telling accused persons to report to the police station? There’s an idea that might spread like wild fire! And, further, the peace was not breached or the cops would have been called immediately. Heck, maybe even the Lake County SWAT Team might have responded.

How does a person attend a public meeting, “alarm or disturb” another AND breach the peace and not get arrested on the spot? He doesn’t!

Why did the acting police chief accept the case and arrest the man on a complaint by a Village Trustee? Not hard to figure that one out.

Like to help out here? Go to http://www.cbgil.com/ and buy a $20 t-shirt on eBay. The money goes to the defense.

And visit http://www.villageofislandlake.blogspot.com/ This one may be where you get the real skinny on what is going on in Island Lake!

Could this happen in Woodstock? If you are worried about committing Disorderly Conduct in Woodstock, you might want to read information in the Woodstock City Code at Section 4.6.1: “A person commits Disorderly Conduct when he or she knowingly A. Does any act in such unreasonable manner as to alarm or disturb another and to provoke a breach of the peace.” There is more, so read the entire section of the Code online at http://www.woodstockil.gov/ Click on City Code and enter “disorderly” in the search box.

I guess all the towns got together and went to the same seminar – or hired the same attorneys who went to same seminar. Or bought the same City Code software.

© 2008 GUS PHILPOTT