Here’s the scoop from tonight’s East Precinct Crime Prevention Coalition meeting, the monthly confab where police, prosecutors, and citizens get together to chat about neighborhood crime.

The feature presentation tonight was from two volunteers from Big Brothers Big Sisters, the great non-profit that pairs up kids with adult role models. They’ve been working hard in recent years to reduce their waiting list from two years down to a few months. But they need more mentors who can commit to spending time with a kid a few times each month. They take each mentor and match them up with a compatible kid based on their shared interests. Interested in volunteering? Contact Olivia Cacchione at 206-763-9060.

Night Out Against Crime: Is August 4th, and this year the registration process is much easier with a simple online form. Sign up by July 31st and have a fun night with your neighbors.

Bank Robbery: Yesterday there was a bank robbery at the Chase Bank at Pike & Broadway. The man walked in, made threats, and was given a bag of cash. That bag also contained an exploding dye pack, which went off soon after. The East Precinct’s Captain McDonagh happened to be just a block away and responded to the scene, spotted the dye-stained suspect, and made the arrest.

Burglaries: Police have arrested a couple of burglars who were working the Pike/Pine area east of Broadway. But people are still falling victim to summer property crimes due to windows and doors left open or unlocked.

Car Prowls: Are up with the nicer weather. People get complacent and leave valuables within sight, making an easy target for thieves.  Police also warn people to not leave electronic accessories in the car either – they give thieves reason to break in and look for the valuable pieces. GPS mountings are a common example to not leave out.

State Budget Impacts: Misdemeanant offenders will no longer have DOC supervision after they’re release from jail

Late night noise: At Firehouse Park near 18th & Cherry. A very nice and normally quiet lady was forced to yell at them to get them to leave.

24th & Alder: A lot of drug activity reported at a house south of here.

23rd & Cherry: Drug issues continue, focused on a house near here

17th & Jackson: Graffiti and broken car windows reported by the CASA Latina staff. Got graffiti near you? Take a picture of it before you clean it up so that police can see if it’s potentially dangerous gang activity or just trashy taggers.

New drug program in the planning stages… stay tuned for more