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WhistleStop first-defense crime stopping |
WhistleSTOP personal crime stop Committee and Program
Visit the page of our new Community Safety Focus Group,
CAPS News, Links, Tips , Public Safety, Crime latest, Quality of Life. Receive Univ. of Chicago security email alerts, type subscribe aware. Univ. of Chicago's safety & security page & tips. Chicago Police caps program
Visit Community Safety for what neighbors said about safety at the HPKCC public disc. Oct. 05.This page brought to you by Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference, the WhistleStop Committee, and HPKCC's website, www.hydepark.org.
Join the Conference! Chair Vicki Suchovsky. Contact us. Get whistles with instructions at Treasure Island Customer Service desk or visit our desk there 2nd Saturdays 11-2 .hpkcc@aol.com.
- The Committee urges you to attend.... And we ask your help.
- Don't Leave Home Without Your Whistle! From the April 2007 Conference Reporter
- The Committee; why this project and how it operates. Being revitalized and expanded in scope.
- What WhistleSTOP is: The instruction sheet (5 1/2 x 4 1/4)
- How and when to use your whistle
- From the former chairman (See "10 ways you can help safety" in HPKCC Community Safety page.)
- Whistle rescues HP woman.
We urge you to attend to these opportunities:
We invite you to send a contribution to the Conference, attention Whistles, for purchase of whistles (of which we are running short). Please send with note and your information to Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference, 1513 E. 53rd St., Chicago, IL 60617.
You could buy whistles from our table at the Treasure Island, 1526 E. 55th St. 2nd Saturdays. We have new whistles that include a neck chain as well as information on proper use. .
Your CAPS meeting!! See schedule in CAPS News or Community Meetings Calendar
Don’t Leave Home Without Your Whistle!
By Joanne Howard [HPKCC board member and WhistleStop Chair][From the April 2007 Conference Reporter]The Hyde Park Kenwood Community Conference is a long time champion of the WhistleStop Program. WhistleStop is a program that initially began in California and spread to Chicago. It is a community action/safety program that encourages people to blow their whistle when you see something menacing about to occur.
Based on reports from our local CAPS meetings and the SECC, Hyde Park, Kenwood, and the areas to the north and south are experiencing lower crime rates. We would like to assist in encouraging this trend by placing a WhistleStop whistle in every community member’s hand.
Blowing a whistle calls attention to a crime in action, and it exposes the criminal and helps the victim. The success of this community action safety program is to ward off criminal activity by letting criminals know they are not safe in the Hyde Park area.
Purchase whistles from the Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference by calling 288-8343 or email us at hpkcc@aol.com. You can also buy them at the HPKCC table at the Coop on [2nd] Saturday mornings [noontimes]. Spend $2.00 for a whistle. You will be glad you did!
WhistleSTOP is being revitalized and expanded as part of a self-protection program that we expect will be an important component of living in Hyde Park. We will need volunteers, initially to sell the whistles and demonstrate the program to homeowners and groups in the community. Chair is Vicki Suchovsky. Members include Jane Comiskey, Joanne Howard, and others of the Hyde Park-Kenwood Community board.
Committee campaign inaugural statement: Stand up to crime in Hyde Park
Violent crime in our neighborhood can STOP. We can STOP feeling helpless and stand up to crime. The Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference invites all residents to participate in the Hyde Park WhistleSTOP community action safety program.
The WhistleSTOP program was initiated 25 years ago as a way to empower Hyde Park residents to take safe action during a crime.
The premise is for our entire community to be in possession of a whistle. When a crime occurs, the victim or witnesses blow their whistles alerting other fellow Hyde Parkers who will in turn blow their whistles while moving toward the direction of the first whistle blown.
The blowing of whistles calls attention to the crime in action, bringing the crime to an abrupt halt and attracting the attention of the police in the area. The ultimate success of this community action safety program is when criminals know that Hyde Park is no longer safe for them.
What can you do to create a safer Hyde Park? Buy a WhistleSTOP whistle through the Hyde Park Kenwood Community Conference or a WhistleSTOP distributor for $2. Be a WhistleSTOP building or block leader by distributing whistles to residents in your building or on your block. Attend the area CAPS meetings. Attend a free Street Safety Seminar.
Most importantly, blow your whistle when your fellow Hyde Parker is in need. Let's model the behavior we desire from our neighborhood.
Whistles can be purchased at the courtesy booth in the 55th Street Co-op. for more information, to join the WhistleSTOP program as a volunteer, or to purchase additional whistles, call the Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference at 288-8343 or email us at hpkcc@aol.com.
Joanne Howard, Bill Pavelec, WhistleSTOP Committee, Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference
Herald report April 19, 2006: HPKCC crime stopper revisited. By Tedd Carrison
Following a year that saw major robbery, burglary and shooting patterns throughout Hyde Park, neighbors Joanne Howard and Bill Pavelec are working to revitalize a once-popular crime deterrent program.
As part of his campaign to make Hyde Park the "safest community in Ch Chicago," Pavelec said he hopes resident will latch on to WhistleSTOP like they did when it was introduced roughly 25 years ago.
WhistleSTOP is sponsored by the Hyde Park-Kenwood Community Conference. It distributes whistles at locations around the neighborhood and instructs residents to sound them if they witness a crime. In theory, the noise should scare off the offender or garner enough attention to help capture him. "Hyde Park is a community of people looking out for each other, it's not a community of individuals," said Pavelec. He also wanted to designate June a safety awareness month and provide forums where residents can share crime prevention tips. "There needs to be a presence," he said. "One of our goals is to remind people that one of the simplest things you can do is first, buy a whistle and second, is blowing the whistle."
To buy whistles or volunteer for the WhistleSTOP program contact the HPKCC at 288-8343 or via e-mail at hpkcc@aol.com.
What WhistleSTOP is, how it works
You can view directly/print the graphic above by clicking here.
Printable page of 'How and When to Use'
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The Committee and HPKCC thank the University of Chicago for underwriting whistle costs.
Watch for our table at community events or at Treasure Island Second Saturdays 11-2. Or, for quantities call the HPKCC office at 773 288-8343. Contact us to volunteer with the committee or to order whistles at ($2 each)- single, several, or in group sales.
Sales continue to advance. The WhistleStop Committee and program are being revitalized and geared up to build a constituency that understands the use of whistles and how to respond to whistles so as to help each other. Be on the neighborhood watch where you are: don't just buy and carry a whistle, be ready to respond--and spread the word. How and when to use.
Participating in the creation of a safe and secure community has beens the focus of the WhistleSTOP Committee since the program was initiated in the high-crime period (with inspiration from California, it's said, suggestion of Ross Lathrop and help of Hyde Park Bank. HPKCC rolled out its program February 23, 1972. It was again revived separately by HPKCC and the University of Chicago Police in August, 1988. More (a Summer 2004 Conference Reporter feature). Committee Chairman: Joanne Howard (contact HPKCC).
By making available special whistles and instituting a program based on neighbor attention and cooperation, we saw, in conjunction with policing coordination and other initiatives, an increase in our collective comfort level with the safety and security of our neighborhood, born out by law enforcement statistics.
Now, there has been an uptick in problems, and WhistleSTOP is available to help again, but people have to know what the program is and how to use it. And police are very enthusiastic about WhistleStop. The program combines:
Individual Action: I can signal for help and get it.
Neighborhood Action: We can protect one another and work together.
Citizen-Police Action: We can assist the police effectively. This program in no way attempts to circumvent or supersede the police. When possible, your first line of defense is still to call 911 and the U of C Police, 773 702-8181.
Note: These whistles are particularly sturdy and generate a very loud whistle. See below for "When to use your whistle." This is not a toy, and that should be explained to children.
For special whistlestop community sales dates check our community calendar or call 773 288-8343.
If you are interested in a bulk order contact us at 773 288-8343. Top
You are confronted on the street 1. Cooperate. It's safer for you.
2. BLOW YOUR WHISTLE when physically safe. Others: respond and call the police.
You fear trouble on the street 1. Run toward the middle of the street.
2 BLOW YOUR WHISTLE. Others: respond and call the police.You observe trouble on the street 1. BLOW YOUR WHISTLE to scare off the assailant
2. Keep at a safe distance.
3. KEEP BLOWING. Stay until the police arrive.You observe trouble from your home or car or you hear a whistle 1. Call police fast. State clearly address and description of the incident observed.
2. Open your window and BLOW YOUR WHISTLE.
3. Go outside, move toward first whistle and KEEP BLOWING.
4. Assist victim if possible, and stay until the police arrive.
Carry your whistle and post your sticker. Parents: Children should know the seriousness of whistle blowing in our community and how they can participate in their project. Discuss with them the above instructions. Top
by Joanne Howard
WhistleStop is a committee and program of HPKCC. For members who are unfamiliar with the program it was brought to the Conference by Ross Lathrop in the early 1970s. This program is an action-safety program that provides each resident of our community with a practical way to protect themselves and their neighbors on the street.
