ELLINGSON: PUBLIC MUST HELP FIND DRUG HOUSES

MASON CITY - Police Chief David Ellingson urged residents of southwest
Mason City Sunday night to let police know about any suspected drug
houses in their neighborhood.

"It's another piece to the puzzle," Ellingson told about 25 residents
who gathered at North Iowa Vocational Center for the first of several
neighborhood town meetings planned by the police.

Ellingson said one of the challenges faced by the police department is
building cases against suspected drug dealers, a process that can
often take months.

"When people park their vehicles in front of these houses, those
vehicles all have license plates and we can check those. You might be
providing one of the missing pieces just by letting us know," he said.

Ellingson said the police department has established three priorities
in crime prevention - continued drug enforcement, more funds for
community policing and funding for better information technology. He
said technology is now available that will allow officers to know not
only the types of crimes that happen in their patrol areas, but the
day and time of day they are most likely to occur.

"It helps direct officers to when and where crimes are taking place,"
he said.

Ellingson said crime statistics for Mason City are higher than they
should be for a city with Mason City's population. "The problem that
is driving our crime stats is property crimes. We're actually
experiencing a downhill slide in violent crimes," he said.

Mayor Bill Schickel, At-large councilpersons Roger Bang and Lori
Henry, Fourth Ward Councilman Art Wolover and Housing Inspector Jim
Sberal attended the meeting, as did several police officers. Sberal
fielded many questions concerning junk cars, garbage on property and
inspections of properties.

"There's 5,000 rental units in Mason City - and there's me," he said,
responding to a question about the speed with which inspections are
done.

Officers Larry Carroll and Charlie Connor conducted the meeting. They
told of the value of Neighborhood Watch programs as effective crime
prevention tools.

Connor said he once let people in his neighborhood know about a spree
of car vandalism and thefts from autos that was going on. "The next
night, there weren't any cars on the street and all the houses up and
down the street had their lights on. That's the kind of thing that can
be done," he said.

There are currently eight Neighborhood Watch programs in Mason City.
"If we had 100, our crime rate would go way down," Connor said.