Break-ins and drug dealing are chronic problems on Winthrop Avenue in Edgewater, the street where last week a woman was found dead in her apartment, residents told police Wednesday.
“We see a pattern here. We don’t see it as a random act,” Barbara Sloane said at a CAPS neighborhood safety meeting. She lives on the 6100 block of North Winthrop Avenue, where Melissa Dorner, 21, was discovered strangled and beaten.
Citing underreported crimes, police said they had not detected any patterns but urged residents to start calling in all incidents and any suspicious behavior. Officers also pointed to landlords’ responsibilities for building security and screening of potential residents.
But action needs to start with the residents themselves, said Glen Brooks, Area 3 CAPS coordinator. “Landlords can install cameras, but it doesn’t matter if residents don’t close the doors or let in people they don’t know.”
