City, County, and State Police in town patrolling for Homecoming

By ALAN EDRINN

Additional police patrols will be in force this weekend for Homecoming.

In a joint effort between the Sycamore, DeKalb, Cortland, DeKalb County and the State Police Departments will be increasing their presence.

Over the past years, Annie Glidden Road and Lincoln Highway have been areas of high-traffic problems during Homecoming weekend, said Sgt. Jim McDougall of the DeKalb Police Department.

The Sycamore Police Department will be patrolling the Sycamore Road area and Cortland police will be patrolling on the east side of town. The DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office and Illinois State Police will also have patrols throughout the city, McDougall said.

Greenbrier Road has also been a problem-area in the past, with a lot of cars parking on both sides of the street, McDougall said.

In response to this problem and to keep traffic flowing, there will be no parking on the north side of Greenbrier Road from Normal Road to Hillcrest Drive, he said. The parking ban signs will be posted noon Friday, and will be taken down Monday morning. McDougall said cars parked on the street will be towed.

“We want people to come here and enjoy the weekend without being stuck in traffic,” he said.

Homecoming weekend does not automatically indicate an increase in crime, and the main increases are in alcohol-related crimes, McDougall said.

Because of the wide variety of factors that lead to fluctuations in crime rates, an increase cannot automatically be assumed, said Lt. Gary Spangler of the DeKalb Police Department.

“It is tough to predict. We know for a fact there will be an increased number of people in town, which will generally reflect an increase in minor infractions,” Spangler said.

“So many factors come into play, all we can do is prepare for a large amount of people with potential problems.”