At our most recent ILPOA Member Meeting, Jean Rohal and myself discussed our concern with theft of and damage to personal and association property. Monthly CARE Metrics also promised suggestions for when and how to report such incidents to The Crawford County Sheriff’s Department.

It is our determination that the vast majority of criminal and mischievous behavior at Indian Hills occurs from approximately midnight until about 4:00 in the morning.  With that knowledge, we have increased own roving patrol hours to include “night shifts” and have received a commitment from CCSD to increase their nightly patrols from one to up to three a night.  These changes are being made in addition to our typical roving patrol day shifts and CCSD daylight patrols. Combined with our evolving Neighborhood Watch Program and other alert members of our community, we have a great chance of significantly reducing the undesirable behavior.  We will never totally eliminate crime at Indian Hills but we can put ourselves in a most favorable position to mitigate and reduce the crime.

It is extremely important for all of our members to know who to call (and not call) when they see or sense suspicious behavior. Quite simply, call the Sheriff’s Department for any theft, suspicious person, suspicious vehicle, suspicious activity(s), property damage, assaults, threats, domestic violence, reckless and careless driving, trespassing or vehicle and boating accidents. On the other hand, call Lake Security (now known as CARE), for any Indian Hills rules violations as established by ILPOA (note, the office is not lake security).  The Sheriff’s Department will not enforce our ILPOA rules, but through civil litigation by the ILPOA Board and attorneys, CARE will.   

When calling the CCSD, you have two options; Cencom at 573-775-4911 for non-emergency sheriff’s department requests and 911 for all emergencies.  Examples of 911 emergencies would be assault, a fight in progress, a vehicle or boating accident, a medical emergency or an in progress burglary or robbery.  Non-emergency request examples (via Cencom) would include theft, taken items, property damage or anything discovered after the fact where an officer is needed to make a report call and perform a subsequent investigation. When calling Cencom, if you request to speak to an officer, one has to be dispatched to contact you.

 We hear many times that The CCSD will not respond to us because we are private property.  This is not true. They will not respond to ILPOA rules violations, but they will, and are required by law to respond to the examples given above when a law has been or is potentially being violated as they would anywhere else in our county. 

Please remember that our Lake Security / CARE Group is not funded for a 24 hour, seven days a week operation.  Furthermore, our CARE Committee Members and employees are only commissioned with observe and report responsibilities. This reminder should also help you determine who to call when you notice or suspect suspicious and unwanted behavior.

Should you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me via my Board email address ( bod.rdixon@ilpoa.org ) or Michael Schwartze Jr. at 573-317-6086. In the meantime, if you see anything suspicious, please report it.

 Thank you,

 R C Dixon

Chair of ILPOA Compliance And Rules Enforcement