Bank robbery is becoming a recreational pastime here in the Western suburbs. Where is law enforcement?

Mike, what a refreshing point of view. The banks are all out for themselves, as we have seen with the collapse of the housing markets, anything for a quick buck. The banks don't want to hire a security guard, even a $20 an hour, they would pay more for them than what they would lose in a bank robbery, 2k-3k on average. What is a life worth to them, the tellers or bank workers, what if they get injured or killed. Every problem is blamed on Law Enforcement.

Jim, my question to you is, when was the last time you were in High School? It seems that you know first hand of the "huge" drug problem they have at York. It probably is the same as it was when you went to high school, information is more easily obtained, internet, The Patch, newspapers. You make it sound like York drug ridden and falling down. How about randomly drug testing every student there, if they test positive kick them out of school? Now, that would be ridiculous and parents would't stand for it & I would agree. Maybe parents should be parents and deal with it at home and not let it fall on Law Enforcement & the government for every little problem that arises. I spoken to several officers and asked if you spoke with them about all your concerns, they said no you have not. You seem to put a lot of assumptions out with nothing to back them up with. Again, it appears you are just spewing you personal opinions.

I have never commented on this page before, but I often read the comments and am always grateful for the extra information, as well as insight into the various perspectives that Elmhurst residents hold. Probably not new news to anyone here, but I did read a few months back that, as police crack down on gangs in the city, more and more are spreading westward (to Oak Park, River Forest, Elmhurst, etc.) Doesn't sound like that was necessarily at play here, but the other tidbit that I've picked up (via the two security companies who gave me quotes this past winter) is that, once a suburb gets a "reputation" for being a hot spot as far as burglaries etc., it often increases in appeal as a potential target. I wouldn't know enough about how the city works or its budget to even suggest that I have a solution to these problems. On the other hand (and this is a question to which I seriously don't have the answer, so perhaps someone else does), is there any latitude in the budget to hire any additional officers? Again, not trying to seem naive. I do love Elmhurst and know crime exists everywhere, though this year has definitely been bumpy as far as home invasions and the like.

Jim, I would agree with this! It would be interesting to get an actual report detailing how much time/manpower is dedicated to parking enforcement and the like versus neighborhood patrols (for an average day or week). I do commend the police force and have always found them quite helpful when I've needed help (and kind/polite on those occasions where my driving has perhaps warranted a ticket ;-) I also know that patrols won't stop EVERY home invasion, but one would think an increased presence of police cars in a given neighborhood might make burglars think twice.

Cops in Elmhurst do have an easy job...yep, they spend way too much time ticketing people for turning on the road over by Salt Creek rather than to focus their attention to the banks. YES they need to PROTECT and Elmhurst MUST BE KNOWN as the City where burglars "DON'T MESS WITH ELMHURST"! We pay such high taxes to live here, why shouldn't we be able to employ more cops!

From the 1969 book by Laurence J. Peter, "The Peter Principle" holds that in a hierarchy, members are promoted so long as they work competently. Eventually they are promoted to a position at which they are no longer competent (their "level of incompetence"), and there they remain, being unable to earn further promotions. Peter's Corollary states that "In time, every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry out its duties" and adds that "work is accomplished by those employees who have not yet reached their level of incompetence."

For whatever reason, city management seems to have set their priorities to the simplest of tasks. For example, last Sunday night a road construction crew left an 8" tall pile of steel plates in the intersection of Vallette and Poplar with two orange cones and some yellow tape wrapped around a tree to keep the public from slamming into the stack. The wind blew the cones over and the tape was flapping across the road. A call to the police dept got the response, "I'll let public works know, but I can't guarantee anything."

The squad cars really shouldn't say "Providing The Best" on the rear bumper, it should say "Providing The Minimum".

Perhaps I am missing something....shouldn't construction stuff be public works responsibility in the first place?

I have also noticed another growing problem in Elmhurst. It seems that several property owners have purchased foreclosed homes in the community and are renting them to people that are committing crimes. It's time to stop "Slum Lords" from bringing crime into the community all to make a buck! It's funny how some "Slum Lord" property owners can try to deflect the problems they are causing in the community and blame everyone else for the criminal problems in town.