Dear Mr. Iwersen,

Thank you for contacting us with your concerns regarding crime in the
Willows neighborhood of Menlo Park. City Manager Kent Steffens has asked
me to address your e-mail dated April 17, 2007 to the City Council.

Police staff conducted an audit of crime statistics for the City overall
and your neighborhood specifically for the period of April 2006 and
2007. Staff audited reports for three types of crimes, those being
residential/commercial burglary, auto burglary and robbery. The
following are the results:

-Between April 18, 2006 and April 18, 2007, there were 56 reported
residential/commercial burglaries in the entire city, with 11 occurring
in the Willows.

-Between April 18, 2006 and April 18, 2007, there were 41 reported auto
burglaries in the entire city, with 7 occurring in the Willows.

-Between April 18, 2006 and April 18, 2007, there were 17 robberies
reported robberies, with 0 occurring in the Willows.

Any number of crime is unacceptable, and we continually work to improve.
Our patrol officers are deployed to three city beats. The beat which
patrols the Willows covers the city between Highway 101 and El Camino
Real. Our patrol officers are encouraged to proactively patrol all areas
and to concentrate on trends and problem areas. Usual patrol staffing
is five police officers and one sergeant on-duty providing coverage to
all three beats. In addition, we have a Narcotic Enforcement Team which
conducts investigations and special enforcement against all types of
felons.

We consider caring residents like yourself to be our best resource.
Involved and observant community members often see and report criminal
behavior, which is our best source of information. We strongly suggest
that you join the Willows Neighborhood Watch Group, which is led by two
Willows residents Dana Shields(danaashields@sbcglobal.net
<mailto:danaashields@sbcglobal.net> ) and Marcia Bever (
Marcia@premierbenefits.com <mailto:Marcia@premierbenefits.com> ). They
act as a liaison between the Police department and the Community and
oversee an e-mail group that includes Menlo Park Police officers who
provide crime trend information. The specific liaison for Willow
information is Police Officer Mary Ferguson(mnferguson@menlopark.org
<mailto:mnferguson@menlopark.org> ) who is specially trained in
Community Relations and is assigned to the Willows.

Lastly, crime statistics can be viewed on the City of Menlo Park's
website http://www.menloparkpolice.org/crime_stats.pdf
<http://www.menloparkpolice.org/crime_stats.pdf> .

Thank you for your concern.

 
Terri Molakides
Special Operations Commander
Menlo Park Police Department
650.330.6321