Residents in Carbondale’s Arbor District say they are seeing an increased amount of violent crimes and want more protection, but mayor Brad Cole said some residents are never satisfied with the police department.

Arbor District resident D. Gorton sent a statistic to his neighbors reporting 45 percent of all Carbondale crimes were committed in their neighborhood prior to a Sept. 2 meeting with city officials and residents. At that meeting, Deputy Police Chief Jeff Grubbs presented data to Gorton and other residents that showed only 15 percent of all crimes occurred in the district.

The Arbor District is located just north of campus between Main and Mill Streets and University and Oakland Avenues.

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Cole said nobody denies there is crime in the city, and the police department is working feverishly to solve and prevent crimes.

‘It’s upsetting that no matter what they do, it’s not good enough,’ he said. ‘We don’t live in a perfect world.’

The police department gave the residents a ‘quality of don’t worry, everything is all right,’ at the meeting, wrote Jane Adams, Arbor District Neighborhood Association Board member, in an open letter to Chief of Police Jody O’Guinn five days after the meeting.

‘We feel that crime is out of control,’ Adams wrote. ‘This sense of impotence and growing lack of confidence in the police is heightened when you deny that there is a problem.’

Gorton and Adams could not be reached for comment.

PDF: Click here for a crime map of July 1 – Aug. 16 according to Arbor District

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Sandy Litecky, president of the Arbor District Neighborhood Association Board and seven-year resident, said the citizens’ concerns are based on the accounts of victims and witnesses.

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Cole said the city of Carbondale has enhanced its public safety staffing and is doing more to be proactive and try new techniques to stop criminal activity, but residents who witness crimes – like those Litecky mentioned – need to be come forward with information.

‘We need the neighbors to help us, not point fingers at us, ‘ Cole said.

Litecky said the board discovered unreported thefts while trying to organize their neighbors.

‘We all of the sudden discovered this was going on,’ she said. ‘As we go out and talk to residents and students, you find out these things.’

O’Guinn said there were extra patrols dispatched to the Arbor District two weeks prior to the meeting on Sept. 2, and Litecky praised the police department for its effort and responsiveness and said she noticed the patrols.

However, since the robbery and murder of 22-year-old Ryan Livingston three years ago, there’s been an increase in gun and knife-related crimes and beatings, Litecky said, citing a recent incident on Poplar and Cherry Street in which gunshots were heard.

Livingston, of Carterville, was stabbed in the 300 block of West Walnut Street after a July 13, 2006 Sunset Concert and told police before he died the next day that two males attempted to rob him.

Cole said he is committed to providing for a safe community, and while he sticks up for the Carbondale Police Department, he said no one is more critical of its productivity than him.

‘Our job is to catch the offender-which we do-and to turn them over for prosecution, and in the meanwhile, do the best we can to help people to be safe in their homes and in their businesses,’ Cole said. ‘It is just very frustrating that a few people seem to never be satisfied.’

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