Citizens of Dixon, Illinois are concerned that local police may be using a crime prevention program that could allow law enforcers to enter private vehicles, and they’re not happy about it.
“This can’t be right or legal,” an Illinois Review reader from Dixon wrote. “I and others think it violates the 4th Amendment, not to mention other state laws and a whole host of other things.”
The police are getting flak about the “Gotcha” program, created more than 10 years ago to respond to a rash of car burglaries in the northwestern Illinois town where Ronald Reagan grew up. Dixon law enforcement says nearly all of the cars that were stolen were left unlocked or with the windows down.
That’s when the Dixon police established the “Gotcha” program – an effort that hadn’t drawn too much attention, until last week, when a Dixon visitor discovered an orange “Gotcha” card on her windshield and posted a photo of the card on social media.
The card said in bold, printed letters, “GOTCHA! If I were a criminal, I could have …” and then handwritten, “…taken your purse. Please lock your doors,” with the date and time posted at the bottom.
The Dixon police chief felt compelled to explain on the department’s Facebook page:
“Within the last week, the program has received a lot of attention after Dixon’s new Community Service Officer found a vehicle in the downtown that had a window down an a purse sitting in plain sight. Trying to do the right thing and go the extra mile for the citizen, the Community Service Officer entered the vehicle, covered up the purse, and left a Gotcha card.”
While in certain circumstances, this can fall within the community care taking function, it is not the practice of the police department to enter vehicles as part of this program.
Chief Langloss said, “It is important for everyone to understand that the Community Service Officer is not a police officer. He has no criminal arrest powers. His job is to serve the downtown through proactive community policing, crime prevention strategies, parking enforcement, and other community service functions.”
“We will not enter anyone’s vehicle as part of this program,” the chief’s explanation said. “I apologize if anyone has taken this the wrong way. Sometimes mistakes happen, and we own our mistakes.”
Chief Langloss also made it clear that no vehicles have been searched and there was no intent by this Community Service Officer to locate anything related to criminal activity.
In other words, the Dixon Police want their citizens to know that the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment protecting against unwarranted search and seizure was not offended.
“His sole purpose was to protect the owner of the purse from a lot of problems,” the explanation said.
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