Chief: Pan-O-Prog a Challenge for Police Department, Car Smashes Deck

(Pan-O-Prog) week is one of the most challenging weeks of the year for our Police Department as thousands of visitors and residents come out to join in the annual summer festival by attending one or more of the events during the week around the 4th of July holiday. Because the 4th of July holiday fell on Wednesday this year, and we were in the midst of a heat wave with extreme heat weather warnings, attendance at many of the events was lighter than it has been in past years. 

The two largest events, the Classic Car Cruise on Friday night and the Pan-O-Prog Grand Parade on Saturday night, still drew very large crowds with thousands of people coming to see the events. I am pleased to report that even with the large crowds and hot weather, every Pan-O-Prog event went off without any major problems and we had very few public safety or traffic issues. 

What most people don’t realize is the months of planning and organization that go into making sure that we can address every public safety and traffic issue that may arise during each of the Pan-O-Prog events. Captain John Arvidson, as the Police Department representative on the Pan-O-Prog committee, is responsible for the overall public safety plan and actually started working on the planning process in January of this year. Working together with the members of the Pan-O-Prog committee, Captain Arvidson ensures that the public safety plan covers all safety and traffic concerns for every Pan-O-Prog event. 

Each major event has a patrol sergeant assigned to implement the Pan-O-Prog public safety plan and supervise the staff assigned to the event. Sergeant Andy Bohlen was the supervisor for the Grand Parade this year, while Sergeant Jay Castonguay was in charge of the 4th of July fireworks and Sergeant Chad Hagen was responsible for the Classic Car Cruise. 

Almost every employee of the Department worked on one or more of the Pan-O-Prog events and they all did an outstanding job of representing our Department and the City. We also rely heavily on our Police Reserve officers, who volunteer hundreds of hours during the Pan-O-Prog events, assisting officers with traffic control and other duties. 

WEEKLY  SNAPSHOT

Sampling of LPD activity for the week of July 3 to July 10, 2012 

Traffic crashes: 8 Alarms: 34 Animal Calls: 44 Medical Emergency Calls: 30 Thefts: 23 Traffic Stops: 244 

CAR HITS HOUSE DECK IN TRAFFIC CRASH 

Officers responded to an unusual traffic crash one day this week in which a car crashed into a deck of a townhouse. Upon arriving at the scene, the officers found that the driver had lost control of her vehicle while pulling into a parking spot at the Crystal Lake golf townhouses.

The vehicle struck an air conditioning unit and the support to the deck of the townhouse, before coming to rest in some shrubs. Fortunately, the driver escaped serious injury, but the car sustained significant damage.