Police Make Sweep of Property Violations in Topeka Neighborhood

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Posted: 10:32 AM Oct 7, 2008
Last Updated: 1:07 PM Oct 10, 2008
Reporter: Amanda Lanum
Email Address: amanda.lanum@wibw.com

21 comments

Operation Boomerang in Southeast Topeka

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TOPEKA, Kan. - The Topeka Police Department announced Operation Boomerang took place October 6-7, 2008 in the Hi-Crest neighborhood in southeast Topeka.

The neighborhood was chosen as a pilot for this program because a high concentration of properties exist whose structure and/or surrounding property violates the property maintenance codes of the City of Topeka.

Research has shown that dilapidated properties and properties of blight can have a direct correlation on the impact of crime that occurs at and around those locations. Through focused enforcement in this area, the Topeka Police Department plans to reduce the level of crime in the neighborhood.

"There is a direct correlation between an unkept neighborhood and crime," said Lt. Russ Klumpp, Topeka Police Department.

The objective of Operation Boomerang is to identify property code violations and abate those violations through cooperation with local residents/owners through the established process including adjudication through Municipal Court.

Community Police Officers and Code Enforcement Officers from the Topeka Police Department worked together in five teams consisting of a police officer and code enforcement officer.

Violations will be explained to the responsible party with a deadline of October 22-23 to correct the violation or to have shown significant progress for complex problems.

If no contact was made with residents, a door hanger was left to serve as notification of the violations.

Officials encourage residents in any neighborhood to report code violations. "We have a handful of inspectors for the entire city so the more folks we have out there helping to identify these issues, the faster and more efficiently we can get these issues resolved," said Lt. Klumpp.

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Comments are posted from viewers like you and do not always reflect the views of this station.

Posted by: Jeff Location: South of Topeka on Oct 10, 2008 at 11:30 PM
Final post regarding are you kidding me: How easy it is to show off your lack of compassion for the elderly and infirmed. I am going to spell it out one more time. My MIL lives in one of the best looking houses in the neighborhood. Her yard is neatly mowed, house has fresh siding, and over all it is very nice. She lives on the corner of a major intersection under a bright street light. Yesterday a concerned citizen brought three boys all under the age of 12 to her door. She told my MIL that the boys had spray painted her dog earlier in the week and had been breaking into her garage stealing and selling things at the local flea market. They were stopped as they were about to paint gang signs on the front of the garage. Three young boys were taken to jail all facing extended time in jail. The house two doors down with an extra car in the yard had nothing to do with this crime. Like I said treat the sickness not the symptom. God bless you I hope you can sleep at night as well.

Posted by: ellsa Location: Topeka on Oct 10, 2008 at 03:17 AM
"Consider a building with a few broken windows. If the windows are not repaired, the tendency is for vandals to break a few more windows. Eventually, they may even break into the building, and if it's unoccupied, perhaps become squatters or light fires inside. Or consider a sidewalk. Some litter accumulates. Soon, more litter accumulates. Eventually, people even start leaving bags of trash from take-out restaurants there or breaking into cars." -"Broken Windows" by James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling The Topeka Police Department is putting into practice a theory that has been around since the 1970's. When other cities like Atlanta, Seattle, and New York implemented the "broken windows" theory statistics illustrate a decline of crime in areas of high crime. I fully support the steps the Topeka Police Department has taken to try and clean up our community.

Posted by: are you kidding me Location: JC on Oct 9, 2008 at 08:01 PM
To Joe:I live where I live and paid what I did for my house so I wouldn't have to live around slobs that are too lazy to take care of their own property. If you live like that then you deserve the scum/ drug dealers/ meth houses that move in next to you.

Posted by: Joe Location: Topeka on Oct 9, 2008 at 04:39 PM
Come On you gotta give the Topeka police something to do. They are to scared to go after the real problems like gangs and drugs..

Posted by: jimmy Location: topeka on Oct 9, 2008 at 08:47 AM
RE: are you kidding me? your right, noone should have to look at anothers laziness. If u dont wanna look at it then U SHOULD MOVE! This is america and if I dont want to waste my time mowing every week or painting my house i shouldnt have to. quit your whining and crying and mind your own business.

Posted by: are you kidding me?? Location: JC on Oct 8, 2008 at 07:08 PM
I can't believe that people are complaining about this. THANK GOODNESS that someone is going to hold these people responsible for their properties. To Jeff: Are you kidding me? I am in awe that you are able to get on here and explain how horrible it is where you mother-in-law lives and yet you are able to sleep at night. There was a point where we would drive an hour to mow my Grandparents yard every weekend so they could stay in their house. We then paid the neighbor boy 20 bucks a week to do it when we couldn't be there. There are options and if their house gets to be too much maybe it is time for them to move somewhere they can be taken care of. To the others that are complaining about money to fix up their house, maybe stop buying the rims and the 20 pairs of shoes to match each outfit you have and put a little money into where you live. I applaud the city and police department for this because noone should have to look at anothers laziness.

Posted by: Funny Location: Topeka on Oct 8, 2008 at 04:51 PM
Operation Boomerang should be Operation "Snooping on the Citizens"

Posted by: Anonymous on Oct 8, 2008 at 03:22 PM
Was there research just driving by and looking???

Posted by: bh Location: OCK on Oct 8, 2008 at 03:12 PM
You want to clean that area up. Doze it and start fresh. It is nothing but gang banging nasty drug dealing area anyways. Stear clear form HIGH crest. You'll get blazed driven through it. Furniture goes in the house and washers and dryers aren't yard art. I am so sick of driving by areas and see this mess out side. Clean up your yards or just doze it then they can live in shelters where they belong.

Posted by: Anonymous on Oct 8, 2008 at 02:17 PM
Mow it or pave it. Do it and stop whinnnnnning.

Posted by: jimmy Location: topeka on Oct 8, 2008 at 12:54 PM
i promise if i get 1 more violation for not mowing my yard as much as my neigbors want im gonna pave my whole yard. then we will see what my nosy neighbors can complain about then.

Posted by: keepitreal Location: topeka on Oct 8, 2008 at 09:20 AM
RE: Jeff my bad on mixing up mother in law for mother but a family member is a family member no matter which side of the marriage they come from. Its a sad story you tell about her and I do agree that they need to treat the sickness not the symptom. Sounds like with all of her disabilites she should be living with another family member. There is not a chance in hell that I would allow my mother let alone my mother in law to live in such horrific conditions. Just my opinion nothing personal.

Posted by: Jeff Location: South of Topeka on Oct 7, 2008 at 10:06 PM
RE: Keep it real's comments. To begin with I was refering to my mother in law. If you had taken time to read more carefully you would have noticed that. I have moved her out of the neighborhood three times. The house she lives in belongs to a slum lord from Osage City who was not able to rent the house to anyone. Her house is one of the better looking ones in the neighborhood. The property owners like so many shreds of human debris entice the poor and elderly with the promise of selling the house on a contract for deed. Wanting nothing more than the American dream people are easily swayed into these situations. My MIL who is blind, can barely walk, and relies on meals on wheels for lunch sees herself as a home owner. She owns paper. In the past she has been sited for needing her garage painted, having a shade on the front porch, and not mowing the city owned alley. I have seen meth deals and criminal behavior when visiting her. Treat the sickness not a symptom.

Posted by: L Location: Topeka on Oct 7, 2008 at 08:50 PM
I agree with the clean up. I find no excuse for trash and junk in the yards. Keep the crap in your house if you want, don't make us look at it. There is no expense of manual labor to pick up the trash.

Posted by: Anonymous on Oct 7, 2008 at 08:05 PM
Don't you mean the Kwic shop eating hotdogs. I went down there one evening and found five eating hotdogs. Don't get me wrong they do need to eat but not all at the same time. Let me point out that night a young man was shot and killed less than a mile away. Something does need happen in that area I can drive down the streey and see deals after deals go down. They can sit on the corner and do it when a cop drves by nothing happens.

Posted by: Ex Tenant Location: Topeka on Oct 7, 2008 at 04:47 PM
I had the unfortunate experience of living in that neighborhood for a while. There was a violent fight on the corner of our street one evening and the police sent just one officer. He stood and watched the fight with us from our front yard. How does cleaning up the properties stop the crime when the people involved in this particular fight were from some of the nicest homes in that area and the adults/patrents were encouraging the teen gangs to continue the fight and offering them weapons. We watched a guy beating his wife, called the police and then listened to his scanner while the police dispatched an officer. The officer drove by while the husband forced his wife to the ground behind the cover of their porch. One officer can not do anything and thats all they ever send. Cleaning up the properties is a waste of time.

Posted by: Lucinda Location: Topeka on Oct 7, 2008 at 02:52 PM
It's good to try to clean up the city in both crime and blight, but when you give people authority to do something like this, for some reason they always tend to go overboard. I hope they use common sense. I'd hate for Topeka to make the international news like a town in Utah did when they arrested an elderly lady for not keeping her yard neat. In addition, I'm skeptical of statements like "Research has shown that dilapidated properties and properties of blight can have a direct correlation on the impact of crime...." I'd like to see the research. Logic says its the reverse. Criminals let their property get run down. But then, so do the poor, the old, and the infirm - people who are unable to keep their places up. So give them some help and see if crime goes down in the area. I doubt it does. Btw, we have a family member who lives elsewhere nearby who is not able to keep her property up so we do it for her. C'mon, family and friends, help'em out and burn some calories to boot.

Posted by: Big rat Location: Topeka on Oct 7, 2008 at 02:27 PM
All of you cops ought to get out of your patrol cars and ride bikes around that bad part of the town at night. May be you can see more of the crimes taking place instead of sit in your patrol cars in front of that Barber Shop every nights.

Posted by: keepitreal Location: topeka on Oct 7, 2008 at 02:22 PM
Jeff if you mom is in such a dangerous crime ridden neighborhood why do you let her live there? Talk about waste of taxpayers money one more time....Lets clean up the Violence and drugs in these neighborhoods then focus on cleaning up the properties..

Posted by: Jeff Location: South of Topeka on Oct 7, 2008 at 01:02 PM
Shame on the city of Topeka. Making a sweep looking for code violations such as a car parked on the grass or a garage needing a little paint. I think the cities efforts would be much better served doing a drug sweep of the neighborhood. Having a mother in law forced to live in this neighborhood due to her income level I am appaled that so much energy would be wasted on code violations in an area where crime and drug use is out of control. The house next to my mother in law was robbed and stripped of every ounce of copper and the steel doors in broad day light in clear view of the street. Meth houses in every block and the sounds of random gun shots at least once a week, these should be what the Topeka police department should be spending time searching for. To an extent ravaging the poor and elderly is nothing short of a Nazi purifcation all the while ignoring the real criminals. Shame shame shame on the great minds that spend time finding new ways to make troubled lives even worse.

Posted by: Anonymous on Oct 7, 2008 at 11:56 AM
Jeeezzz whizzzz, Instead of cleaning up the "VIOLENT CRIMES" they try to clean up the properties. Bunch of morons.