Thursday, October 5, 2017 • Vol. 133, No. 14 • Oregon, WI • ConnectOregonWI.com • $1
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Oregon Observer The
Oregon Police Department
Accreditation approved SCOTT GIRARD Unified Newspaper Group
Sample standards The following are among the 49 standards a police department has to meet to receive Core Accreditation: • Agency jurisdiction directive • Disciplinary system • Use-of-force directive • Procedures for stopping and approaching vehicles • Temporary detention procedures • Records security • Evidence collection • Training
When Brian Uhl became the Oregon Police Department chief two years ago, he said he wanted the department to become accredited. On Oct. 2, the Wisconsin Law Enforcement Accreditation Group affirmed the first major step in that process, approving OPD for Core Accreditation. That came after two years of updates to “outdated policies” and the “daunting task” of organizing the evidence room, Uhl told the Observer. The department is now one of 32 statewide to have achieved the Core Standards Accreditation from WILEAG, which will also require check-ins by outside agencies every three f o r f u l l a c c r e d i t a t i o n years on department prac- through WILEAG over the next couple of years. tices and policies. Uhl said he plans to Turn to OPD/Page 10 have the department aim
Trivial pursuits
Firefly Coffee House hosted trivia night Friday, Sept. 29. Teams participated in four rounds, 25 questions each, on a variety of topics. Proceeds of the event benefited the Friends of the Oregon Public Library, who support library programming, special collections and projects and other library activities.
Coming together in Merri-Hill Neighborhood holds ‘meet and greet’ to help prevent crime SCOTT DE LARUELLE Unified Newspaper Group
Village of Oregon
Business owners, village officials to discuss parking lot Property owners want drive aisle through Jefferson Street lot BILL LIVICK Unified Newspaper Group
Business and property owners on South Main Street are seeking a better way for large trucks to deliver goods. T h a t ’s w h y t h e y ’v e asked the village to
consider creating a northto-south corridor through the Jefferson Street parking lot. After a long discussion on the matter Monday, O r eg o n Vi l l a g e B o a r d members agreed to have an engineer and the city’s p u b l i c wo r k s d i r e c t o r “continue the discussion” with the various parties to figure out the best course of action. The current setup, as one building owner put it, is “a
Turn to Parking/Page 2
Photo by Amber Levenhagen
Cheering with excitement, Susan Fenton points to her teammate who helped answer an important question correctly.
Kristen Navis and her family are relatively new to the Merri-Hill neighborhood in Oregon, but that didn’t stop her from recognizing a potential problem. And a solution. She organized a neighborhood “meet-and-greet” Sunday at Merri-Hill Park for neighbors to meet and better get to know each other and talk about solutions to some recent breakins and vandalism in the area. Navis told the Observer on Monday that while the main idea of the gathering was “wanting to get to know my neighbors and who’s around me,” she noticed some people from the neighborhood making negative comments on social media about the incidents, including a perceived lack of police response. “It’s not that they’re blaming the police for not being able to curb some of that, but I thought, we have to do what we can as a community to keep an eye out and protect each other first
and foremost,” she said. “The police ‘Maybe someone from department is stretched thin and down the road who you there’s only so much they can do based on tips and things they can get.” might have walked by in For Navis, the most important thing was to “take a step up as a communi- the grocery store 100 times, ty and neighborhood and do what we now you’ll stop and say, can to know each other.” ‘Hey, I know you.’’ “If we know faces; kind of know who’s around, if something is out of – Kristen Navis order, then we know,” she said. “If I know that the people three houses up don’t have kids and I see kids in the decided to set one up. More than 50 yard, it’s sign that something proba- people showed up throughout the day, bly is not right.” bringing food, games and lots of conversation. Community spirit “People were excited to be able to The neighborhood – several blocks get together,” she said. “Everybody between East Netherwood Street, was talking to everybody – it wasn’t Richards Road, South Perry Park- just ‘hang out with your own neighway and North Main Street – has bors,’ it was a good mingle. Maybe traditionally had a common bond someone from down the road who between residents, holding a parade you might have walked by in the groevery Fourth of July to celebrate the cery store 100 times, now you’ll stop community. Still, when Navis heard and say, ‘Hey, I know you.’” It turned out to also be a good from some longtime residents that the neighborhood hadn’t had a “sit-down Turn to Neighborhood/Page 2 get-together” in nearly a decade, she
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OPD achieves first level of state accreditation
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