Crime decreases in Village

Despite recent negative news about crimes committed by Carpentersville residents, there is some very positive news that may have been overlooked.

Serious crime in Carpentersville has dropped.

And, it has dropped significantly.

While the Illinois State Police report drops around the state of 3.6 to 8.3 percent …

Carpentersville’s rate dropped by over 24%!

In addition to the successful partnership with the FBI, local community leaders say the department’s increased visibility on the streets is sending a positive message to residents, while enforcing its no tolerance policy for offenders.

Of course, there will be those who want to downplay those numbers, and write them off in order to put forth their own agenda, but the reality is that Carpentersville is growing in a positive way that deserves recognition.

Its the positive way that Carpentersville has been moving forward, despite some – as readers of this blog are well aware – who want to tear it down and/or hold it back.

Child abduction stopped at Spring Hill Mall

Scary stuff.  Great work by the chaperones and Mall public safety staff.

Thursday morning at Spring Hill Mall, a Chicago man attempted to abduct a 4 year old child visiting with a group from Elgin’s Two Rivers Headstart.

Arthur Robinzine, 19, of 818 S. Wolcott Ave., Chicago, has been charged with unlawful restraint, aggravated battery in a public place and resisting arrest after he grabbed the boy at about 9:15 a.m., according to police.

[…]

As soon as Robinzine picked up the victim and attempted to walk away, he was tackled to the ground by a group chaperone and a mall store employee, Sawyer said. The child wasn’t injured, [West Dundee Police Chief Dave] Sawyer said.

Police said it is unclear what the man’s intention was, and he was at Sherman Hospital undergoing psychiatric assessment.

Read more on this story:

• Chaperone helps foil child abduction attempt at mall – Courier-News
• Suspect tackled after boy, 4, is grabbed at mall during field trip – Chicago Tribune
• Attempted abduction thwarted at Spring Hill Mall –Northwest Herald
  
• Chaperones tackle man who grabbed child on field trip – Daily Herald

New Immigration Court Watch: Oklahoma

On Thursday, November 1st, a new law approved in May went into effect in Oklahoma: Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act of 2007 [HB 1804 text, Microsoft Word Document] A lawsuit has been filed to overturn the law. A hearing on the case is scheduled to begin this week. An emergency injunction filed to prevent the law from being enforced was tossed out last week.

The news reports about the law are somewhat misleading, because they infer that it creates a primary enforcement directive. In other words, that illegal immigrants will be specifically targeted by the act, and police will be responding to reports of suspected illegal immigrant presence.

However, law enforcement is saying it won’t really change anything they are currently doing.

Are they planning to ignore the law? Not at all. But, they say, people don’t seem to understand what the new law means and what resources law enforcement agencies have available to them.

“We’re not rounding people up,” [Capt Dean] Grassino [of Enid, OK] said. “We’ll cooperate. If they do an immigration enforcement action, we’ll assist. But we’re not going to send officers out to businesses to check workers’ papers and stuff. That’s stuff we’re not going to do.”

And, this is where things appear to differ from what has been proposed in Carpentersville. (Although, there is a disparity in comparison, too, because States have greater jurisdiction in these matters than do municipalities.)

While there are items in the law that appear to be problematic, because they may violate due process rights afforded to all citizens and guests of the United States or do not provide adequate protections of those and related rights, a majority of the sections of the new law are directed at existing processes, and may well be upheld.

For example, providing clearer criteria for the issuance — and acceptance — of official identification for obtaining public benefits and services seems quite within the jurisdiction of the state, without interference in federal statues. Additionally, in cases of arrest for certain crimes (read: felonies or DUI), “reasonable” effort must be made to determine whether the suspect is a U.S. citizen or resident alien, using the “Status Verification System” (something which the State of Illinois banned the use of). Some of these seem to be be the kind of things that Sheriff Daniel Beck of Allen County, Ohio has employed in his efforts.

Still, some of the sections could end up being rejected, such as those that would penalize citizens, landlords and business owners who might transport, house or employ undocumented immigrants.

The outcome of this case will be another one that we should watch.

Yet, for all the things that appear to be beneficial in the protections of U.S. citizens and taxpayers, there are still fundamental flaws that must be addressed. Today on Tennessean.com, an “Our View” touches on several of the issues that must be considered by a “hodgepodge” approach to immigration reform and enforcement.

Thus, while no one may like the way Congress has handled immigration legislation so far, it is still the province of the U.S. House and Senate, and the reason for this is deceptively simple: questions involving individuals from outside the borders of the United States should be treated equally and even-handedly. This cannot be achieved by 50 or more separate authorities, but by one federal authority.

Smaller jurisdictions’ end runs around Congress only complicate the problem of illegal immigration for the future.

Perhaps, though, worthy efforts will be take up to the federal level and implemented uniformly. But, deportations will not matter one lick without adequate border security, and some of these efforts will have a further detrimental effect on an economy that seems to be headed toward depression.