A history of problems at the shopping center
The homicide late on Mother s Day was just the latest to draw police attention to the plaza.
According to dispatch records provided to the Journal Star under a Freedom of Information Act request, police have been called to the address 131 times in the past five years due to fights or aggravated battery. In the same time period there were 13 calls for shots being fired there, 10 more where there was evidence of a shooting, and six calls related to unlawful weapons. Additionally, from 2016 to 2021, there have been 272 disorderly conduct calls and seven calls for someone being robbed at the shopping center, the records show.
Mar 10, 2021
NEWTON TOWNSHIP Fire crews from five companies battled a fire at a vacant house Tuesday night the township.
The home on Woodland Avenue near Pennsylvania Avenue was vacant, according to joint fire district Chief Doug Theobald, and was a total loss.
The call came about 11 p.m. and firefighters were there about three hours, Theobald said. The house was valued about $10,000.
Crews from Lordstown, Paris Township, Braceville and Milton Township provided mutual aid, Theobald said.
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Officer Emmaline Waid sustained minor injuries in the crash, which took place about 6:30 a.m. Feb. 17 at the McDonald s restaurant at 627 N. Western Ave.
Toward the end of her shift that day, Waid was responding to an officer-aid call about 2½ miles away. In a 30 mph zone, Waid was driving about 50 mph north on Western Avenue when her squad car slid on snow-covered pavement after she braked to avoid colliding with another vehicle, according to police reports. We don t always drive the speed limit when we re going to calls, interim Chief Doug Theobald told the Journal Star. You just hope they re being as safe as they can about it. That being said, a lot of things are taken into consideration.
Dana Vollmer / WCBU
Peoria Police Chief Loren Marion III is retiring next month.
Marion has been with the Peoria Police Department for 26 years. Law enforcement careers are a family tradition. His grandfather, Frank Smith, was the Bellevue police chief. And Marion s father was a Peoria patrolman for three decades before his 2009 retirement from the department.
“I feel the Department is moving in the right direction. We are ahead of many agencies throughout the country in our policies/procedures, technology and training, said Marion in a prepared statement on Monday.
During Marion s tenure, the Peoria Police Department rolled out body cameras, an officer wellness program, and expanded the resident officer program.
PEORIA Peoria s police chief is stepping down next month, but is proud of the work he s done to improve community relations and help with officer wellness.
A third-generation police officer, Loren Marion, III, will leave the force on Jan. 22, 2021, marking the first time in 41 years that a Marion his father, Loren Marion, Jr., served for 30 years isn t in uniform.
The chief said he looks at two main areas as high points of his nearly three years as chief. First was improving community relations, long seen as a focus point for the department. One of the things that I learned as a young patrol officer was that you should treat people in the way that you would want to be treated, said the 26-year veteran. I think we managed to push that down to the officers. I wanted to build on our community policing.