The Rochester Police Department will be teaming up with the Sangamon County Circuit Clerks Office in presenting an outreach program to the Rochester Community on Saturday, September 10th, from 10:30 AM until 1:30 PM. The program will be held in the Rochester Community Room located at the Village Hall/Library Complex at 1 Community Drive in Rochester.

The Police Department will be providing child I.D. cards and taking fingerprints of the children in attendance so that parents may have these valuable resources available to them. The police will also be handing out free gun locks to promote weapons safety within the community. The Circuit Clerk ‘s staff members will be available to explain the graduated driver’s license program, discuss orders of protection, no-stalking and no-contact orders, and provide information about civil and family court as well as how to use the circuit clerk’s website to access records.

With the resurfacing of Route 29 you may have noticed the traffic lights seem to take longer to cycle. During the construction phase the lights had to be placed on a set timed mode and the sensors had to be removed; now that the construction has been completed these sensors can be reinstalled.

You also may have noticed Egizii Electric crews installing these sensors at intersections on Route 29 through town the past few days. When complete, these sensors will allow the stop lights to more efficiently adjust to traffic flow and help to shorten your wait time.

The project is estimated to take no longer than a week or two to complete.

We are pleased to report that Nixle, as you remember it, is back!

Nixle has indefinitely extended Nixle Connect, free of charge, to public service agencies across the United States.

The department has been utilizing this platform since January 1^st of this year to deliver targeted SMS and e-mail messages to subscribed residents about everything from water main breaks to community information.

We are very excited to have this valuable tool once again available to us! Since we began utilizing Nixle at the beginning of this year we have sent out 33 alerts to residents within the Rochester area.

This tool, combined with our social networking accounts, enables us to deliver important information directly to residents quickly and efficiently.

If you have not already, and are interested in subscribing for Nixle alerts, follow this link and complete the registration process.

Around 3pm this afternoon portions of the Rochester area were hit with power outages.

Outages at the Police Department triggered the back-up generator and left both the Village front offices and the Rochester Public Library without power. Also impacted were Sherry Lane and Walberta Drive, as well as the gas pumps at Phillips 66.

Subway, Hometown Proud, and the inside of Phillips 66 ARE still with power and open at this time.

Ameren told Village employees checking on the problem that our area is experiencing spotty outages, but could not provide a time to have power back to normal.

It has been just over 6 months ago since the department began utilizing NIXLE’s “Nixle Wire” service. The service, offered free of charge by NIXLE to public service agencies, enables the department to send out targeted alerts to subscribed residents via e-mail and text message.

Effective July 1^st of this year, some of the services originally offered by NIXLE will no longer be available free of charge.  Because of this, the department will only be able to utilize limited services with their NIXLE account. Geo-targeted alerts as well as “advisory” and “community” alerts will no longer be available. The department will only have the capability of reaching subscribers by issuing “alerts,” the highest level of message that NIXLE has.

Since the department began utilizing the service to inform residents, the feedback received has been tremendous. It is the department’s hope to bring back the full service sometime in the future, if funding allows.

To supplement for the loss of “advisory” and “community” messages, the department will begin to issue these types of messages utilizing existing social networking accounts and the department’s website. Since the department began utilizing NIXLE this January, we have sent out 30 messages. Of these messages, 5 were alerts, 13 were advisories, and 12 were community.

In the early morning hours this last Saturday, June 18^th, one of our officers noticed numerous opened mailboxes while on patrol.

Either late Friday evening or early Saturday morning, mailboxes along a mile and a half long route in both Maplehurst and Wyndmoor subdivisions were opened. To our knowledge there was nothing removed from any of the boxes.  In addition to this, the letters “SS” were painted on a stop sign on the corner of Milldale and Heathrow Drive with pink window paint.

While these incidents appear to be harmless, it is a strong indication of juvenile activity occurring in the middle of the night in our neighborhoods. In past summers, incidents similar to these have been the precursor to escalating activity.

We encourage the public to contact us if they observe any suspicious activity. The officer on duty can be reached at 381-8351.

The Rochester Police Department is seeking information about damages that occurred to mailboxes in the 100 block of Willow Lane this last weekend.

On Saturday, June 18, a white SUV ran over a mailbox post containing three separate mailboxes around 9:30pm, and left without reporting the event.

If you have any information about this incident, please contact the Rochester Police Department at 498-8443, or submit your information online, anonymously, by using the “TIP LINE” on our website (rochesterilpolice.com).

On Tuesday construction crews are scheduled to asphalt the intersections of Route 29 through Rochester. Please utilize this information to plan accordingly.

You might notice an increased police presence this Saturday at the high school. Department members will be conducting scenario-based training in the school from 9am until 1pm.

The department trains in the school at least twice yearly in order to refresh officers’ skills and enable department members to become increasingly familiar with school facilities.

Yesterday we received a bulletin from the Sangamon and Menard County Crime Stoppers with information related to numerous thefts and burglaries to motor vehicles that have been taking place around the Sangamon and Menard County area.

Specifically mentioned in this bulletin was the targeting of several lawn care businesses by burglars. In these incidences, after lawn care employees have completed a job they have returned to their vehicles and noticed numerous pieces of equipment missing. Employees have reported leaf blowers, hedge trimmers, weed eaters, and edgers missing with total losses adding up to over $3,000.

The department is encouraging residents and small business owners in our area to secure their vehicles and equipment and keep a watchful eye out for any suspicious persons. If you notice anyone acting suspicious, contact the officer on duty directly at 381-8351.

If you have any information about the above incidents you can remain completely anonymous by calling Crime Stoppers at 788-8427, submitting your tip online at Cash4Tips.us, or by texting your tip to CRIMES and typing TIP672 plus your message. Remember Crime Stoppers wants your information not your name.