The Glendale PD has released their year-end Crime Trends Report. You can view the report here, or sign up to receive the report on the Glendale Police Department's website by clicking here.
Mail Thefts Still a Cause for Concern
Although a majority of the thefts have been in Chevy Chase Canyon, it is still important for us to be aware and vigilant as well.
For many months, we have been experiencing late night thefts from mailboxes in the Chevy Chase Canyon area. The mailboxes are at the curb and the area is more remote and, therefore was targeted regularly along with adjoining areas in La Canada and La Crescenta. This trend has widened and now Glendale PD is receiving reports of thefts of mail in boxes attached to homes as far west as Valley View. Some apartment buildings are victims as crooks make entry into the lobby and the boxes as well. What the thieves are seeking is a means to steal your identity. This information is more accessible than you think. Every credit card application and those weekly blank checks to the accounts you do have sent to you are easy to complete and with a little more digging, they can get all kinds of things shipped to them at your expense.
- Please alert neighbors to the activity and notify apartment managers
- If there are folks on your street that keep later hours, let them know in order to have eyes out for suspicious cars late at night
- Retrieve your mail as soon as practical and do the same for neighbors if you have opposing schedules
- Locking mailboxes may deter some theft, but some crooks carry pry tools.
- Remember to remove any package deliveries from the porch immediately and do the same for neighbors
The USPS has an 800 number on their website to report mail theft. If, however, you witness suspicious behavior or are certain of a theft, inform the Post Office, but also report it with the Glendale Police Department (818) 548-4841 to request an officer respond to take a report, if a crime has been committed. The Glendale police have been actively stopping and searching suspicious vehicles and pedestrians and have made a recent arrest of a prolific mail thief with prior arrests for the same behavior. Patrol officers have been alerted to the trend and will continue to be vigilant.
As with all criminal behavior, it is best to report all suspicious activity and continue to remove opportunity from the thieves. Remove items from your car and lock it. Illuminate your home and make it a hard target. Don’t be so distracted by your shopping to be careless. Watch where you are walking to and from and make eye contact with all you encounter. Don’t act like a victim and it is much less likely you will be a victim!
Have safe and happy holidays!
Neighborhood Watch Training and Info Session Tuesday 8/21
There will be a Neighborhood Watch training and information session next Tuesday, August 21 from 6:30 to 8:00pm at the Joe Bridges Clubhouse in Glenoaks Park. Everyone is welcome to attend. Officer Sue Shine of the Glendale Police Department will be presenting information that will help make our community safer and an even nicer place to live.
2nd Annual National Night Out
Come enjoy a summer's evening and hang out with your neighbors at the 2nd annual National Night Out.
Tuesday, August 7th
6pm - 8pm
Glenoaks Canyon Park
Hope to see you there!
New Glendale Crime Trends Bulletin
The Glendale Police Department has begun putting out a regular bulletin outlining some of the crime trends going on in our city. Glendale Police Chief Ron DePampa (rdepompa@ci.glendale.ca.us) attributes the increased crime in the city to the release of "realigned" felons into the community. These felons are considered by the state to be lowrisk offenders: non-violent, non-serious, and non-high risk sex offenders. But, the reality is that these felons are also career criminals: five felony convictions already, 56% have mental health issues, 56% have substance abuse issues and re-offenders with a 70% recidivism rate. It is estimated that the state will be releasing 55,000 of these felons by the end of 2012. To read more about this problem and how it affects our city and neighborhood, read the full bulletin here:
http://www.ci.glendale.ca.us/police/pdfs/crimetrends/crimetrendscrimetrends_1qtr2012.pdf
If you would like to subscribe to the Crime Trends Bulletin, a sign up form (name and email address) can be found here:
http://www.ci.glendale.ca.us/police/crimetrends/signup.asp
Be safe and vigilant out there and report anything suspicious you see in the canyon.
Emergency Guide Posted
We have posted a comprehensive, 130 page Emergency Guide written by Isabelle Meyer on the site. This guide has everything you will need to get prepared for an emergency and help you be confident in what to do when an emergency happens.
You can find the guide on this site's Disaster Preparedness page.
We have also provided a link to download the guide here:
This guide covers everything from preparing for an emergency, to what you need to do after an emergency strikes. This is something that everyone should check out.
Please note that as this document is quite large, it may take some time to download.
City Council Passes Glendale Bicycle Safety Plan
On March 27th, the City Council passed the Glendale Bicycle Safety Plan. This affects our canyon in that as part of the street resurfacing project [see: Glenoaks Blvd. Rehabilitation Meeting Notes] the city will be painting bike lanes and sharrows markers in the canyon upon completion of resurfacing. Below is a summary of what this means for our canyon.
Here is what the plan proposes:
From Chevy Chase to Mt. Carmel
Current 46' wide 2 lanes with on-street parking
Proposed 46' wide 2 lanes with on-street parking 6' bike lanes 7' wide parking lanes 10' wide travel lanes
From Mt. Carmel to Scholl Dr.
Current 46' wide 2 lanes with on-street parking 9.5' center turn lane 8' parking lanes 10' 3" travel lanes
Proposed 46' wide 2 lanes with on-street parking Remove center turn lane 7' parking lanes 6' bike lanes 10' travel lanes
From Scholl Dr. to Scholl Canyon Park Entrance
Current 40' wide 2 lanes with on-street parking 4' center painted median 7' parking lanes 11' driving lanes
Proposed 40' wide 2 lanes with on-street parking Remove center painted median 7' parking lanes 13' travel lanes with sharrows (see below for an explanation of what a "sharrow" is)
From Scholl Canyon Park Entrance to Tennis Courts
Current 40' wide 2 lanes with parking only from 6am to 10:30pm 6' wide painted lines, no bike lane markings
Proposed 40' wide 2 lanes with parking only from 6am to 10:30pm Stencil and sign existing stripes to create bike lane
A "sharrow" is a shared bike lane. Signified by the symbol:
The stated purposes of the shared-lane markings used in California are to:
- Assist bicyclists with lateral positioning in a shared lane with on-street parallel parking in order to reduce the chance of a bicyclist’s impacting the open door of a parked vehicle;
- Assist bicyclists with lateral positioning in lanes that are too narrow for a motor vehicle and a bicycle to travel side by side within the same traffic lane;
- Alert motorists of the lateral location bicyclists are likely to occupy within the traveled way;
- Encourage safe passing of bicyclists by motorists; and
- Reduce the incidence of wrong-way bicycling.
You can download the full copy of the bicycle master plan here: http://www.ci.glendale.ca.us/public_works/GlendaleBicycleMasterPlan.asp
Neighborhood Watch Tips
Here are some great tips that were posted by one of our canyon residents:
- Keep doors and windows locked
- Use an alarm system
- Trim bushes and shrubs lower that hide windows
- Install motion metector lights
- Get outside and open curtains to better see what's going on
- Lock up good when you leave home, most crimes are when you have left your house
- Don't answer the door without checking to see who it is
- Don't allow strangers into your house
- Put up signs indicating dog, dog paraphanelia, or have dog
- Secure the rear of your house as you do the front of your house
- Don't depend on one safety system
- Ask neighbors to watch for suspicious activity, or watch out for you
- Watch for unusual cars hanging around for days
- Log all serialized property and photograph all jewelry and store family valuables off-site
- Don't telegraph behavior with set routine
- Leave lights on and radio on when gone, you could put radio on timer
- Close and lock garage doors
- Lock up tools that could be used to break into your home (ladder, etc.)
- Be alert
- Don't try to stop or apprehend a person committing a crime - call 911
- Don't investigate suspicious activity - call 911
For non-emergencies call Glendale PD at (818) 548-4911
For suspicious vehicles, GPD needs make, model, color, AND LICENSE PLATE #. Also special features like bumper damage, bondo, peeling paint, custom paint job and tell dispatch the direction the car is traveling.
For suspicious people GPD needs as much detail as possible dark skin, light skin, hair color, height and weight approximated AND what they are wearing.
Other resources: Crimemapping.com for up to the minute crimes in our area. lacrimestoppers.com (tip line) 818 507-STOP & 800 222-tips (anonymous tip line) TIPLA@2744637 for texting
City Council Meeting to Discuss Addition of Bike Lanes in Glendale
The City Council will host a “study session” at 3:00 pm on Tuesday March 27th (prior to the regular Council Meeting) to gain input from staff and other sources regarding the proposed addition of Bike Lanes in the City of Glendale. The session should last about 2 hours.
All concerned citizens are encouraged to attend the session and voice their opinions – both pro and con. Council will use the input for further study the program. There is nothing scheduled yet as to when the Council will bring up the program for a vote.
We urge all Canyon residents to participate in the study session and verbally present their ideas regarding adding bike lanes to Glenoaks Boulevard to our Council. if you can't make it to the meeting, please email your thoughts about bike lanes in Glendale to citycouncil@ci.glendale.ca.us.
Glenoaks Canyon Rehabilitation Meeting Monday Night
Important meeting Monday night 6pm at the Glenoaks Elementary School Auditorium to discuss the rehabilitation of Glenoaks Blvd.
This meeting will discuss the plans and impact of the rehabilitation of Glenoaks Blvd. from Harvey up to the entrance of Scholl Canyon Park.
At the meeting there will also be discussion of bike lanes on Glenoaks Blvd. that have been proposed in the Glendale Bicycle Master Plan and will be voted on at an upcoming City Council meeting.
If you are at all interested in seeing how the resurfacing and potential restriping of Glenoaks Blvd. will affect us as residents of the canyon, you should definitely plan on attending.