The Wayzata Crime Prevention Coalition

HISTORY

The Coalition began as an off-shoot of the greater Wayzata Area Chamber of Commerce. In 1980, a group of volunteers met at Hart’s Cafe (Sunsets/CoV) and put together an organization to meet the mission purpose. This group included Jeff Lambert, Winto Jones, Gordy Engel, Jim Fish, Dennis Buhl, Kathi Roer, David Berg, David McGill, Mary Ann Frick, David Brehm, Chief of Police, and Karen Wahlberg.

The by-laws were established and the group become registered in 1981. The kick-off …

The Wayzata Crime prevention Coalition is a voluntary organization assisting the Wayzata Police in many crime prevention initiatives. The coalition is made up of more than a dozen volunteers who work to help the Wayzata Police and Fire Departments make our city a safer place to live, work, and visit. The board consists of Wayzata residents, business people and Wayzata city staff. The Wayzata Police Department has 10 police officers. Due to the volume of typical police work there is little time to focus on crime prevention initiatives. This is where the WCPC helps.

The WCPC is involved in many annual activities. They organize our neighborhood Night To Unite visits. They also assist in public education crime prevention seminars, such as senior driving courses (to reduce insurance rates for seniors), seminars on internet safety, identity theft, block captain training for neighborhood watch captains, retail crime prevention, etc. They also fund raise for special projects. The WCPC purchased the department’s Tasers and Automatic Electronic Defibrillators (AEDs). They were critical in launching the Police Department’s Virtual Neighborhood & Business Watch Program, where residents and the business community can sign up by email and receive crime alerts electronically.

The primary task of the Wayzata Crime Prevention Coalition is to educate and alert citizens and businesses about criminal activities within our community. We are strictly a volunteer arm of the Wayzata police department with no city funds. Historically, our efforts have focused on retail businesses helping them understand shop lifting methods, illegal check writing schemes, etc. The other ‘popular’ activity has been car break-ins. Unfortunately we have two emerging and disturbing criminal trends, (1) internet activities geared toward unsuspecting children and seniors and (2) the brazen daylight residential break-ins. The criminal mind is quite creative and these unsettling patterns require the Crime Coalition to redevelop its educational message.

Our informational activities take money. In the past, the majority of our contributions came from the retail community. We are expanding these efforts to include our home owners. Annually we have two fund raising drives; June and July geared to our local business and August and September toward our residents.

MISSION

Through citizen education and cooperation with the Wayzata Police and Fire Departments, reduce crime in the Greater Wayzata area. Our efforts will capitalize on the experience of other communities who have embarked on similar programs and to bring the national “Take a Bite Out of Crime” effort to a local level.