MPD UPDATE

I am sure that you all received the Monrovia Police Department Watch Cap Newsletter last week. In case you did not I thought I would re-cap some of the highlights as part of our neighborhood watch ongoing updates.

The Chief of Police Roger Johnson urges Monrovia residents to act in the concept of community policing. He stresses that the police cannot eliminate the gang influences alone and the community as a whole needs to step up. Johnson states “It will require the collaborative work of government, law enforcement, business, schools, faith based organizations, and community members to be successful in eliminating gangs in our neighborhoods”.

The newsletter goes on to talk about graffiti. There are different types of graffiti, the taggers who believe they are creating art and the gang members who use graffiti to mark their territory or neighborhood in a city. The city of Monrovia removes or paints over all graffiti once it is discovered. If it is gang related it is photographed and passed to the Special Enforcement Team who helps identify the gangs and members. In addition the information is shared with local police agencies to raise awareness.

For those of you who did not write it all down at our neighborhood watch meeting the newsletter outlined the three common gangs we deal with in Monrovia:
· Monrovia Nuevo Vario- Hispanic Gang
· Duarte Eastside- Hispanic Gang
· Duroc Crips- Black Gang

All gangs spell trouble; please contact the police if you see any graffiti or tagging marked in our neighborhood with:
· The gang names, initials or symbol
· Nicknames of members
· Threats to rival gangs

The police suggest forming a neighborhood watch (already done!) to keep this type of activity out of our city. They remind us that criminals love darkness, (which our street is really dark at night), and whenever possible keep areas lighted to discourage criminal activity.
I hope this update is helpful if you did not get the newsletter.
Keep it safe,
Renee (and frank who pasted this in from her email)