By Gary Dickson garydickson@siouxlandobserver.com

The Event Center in the Holiday Inn Express & Suites Sioux City North was nearly filled to capacity Monday night with Dakota Dunes residents. They were there to hear about increasing issues of vandalism and related juvenile misbehavior in The Dunes from law enforcement and security officials. Problems that appear to have risen in frequency and severity over the last year, according to a flyer sent out by meeting organizers are “door dinging, vandalism, and other vandalism”.

The meeting was sponsored by the Dakota Dunes Community Improvement District (CID) and the Dakota Dunes Community Association a.k.a. Home Owners Association (HOA).

Union County Sheriff Dan Limoges told the audience he had been invited to the meeting by the Dunes Community Improvement District. He said his office had been aware of increasing vandalism in the Dakota Dunes area for at least a year.

“Criminal activity such as door knocking and window breaking and other demands are increasing to the point where I asked the Union County Commissioners for an additional two deputies this year,” Limoges said. “And they approved the additional hires.”

The Sheriff said his officers were writing more citations for different violations across the board. “I’m planning to have one deputy patrolling here in The Dunes every day — but not 24 hours a day — more towards the evening hours,” he said.

Limoges said years ago there used to be a problem with home invasions from out-of-town offenders. But now it’s changed.

“Now we’re having a problem with after-hours door knockers. We’ve found there are groups of five, eight, 10, or 15 of them at a time. They get someone to chase them — either a homeowner or the Night Patrol — and they scatter. We’re also finding they’re wearing masks and gloves now. They are banging on doors and breaking windows in the community. These kids don’t have any respect for law enforcement, either.”

The Sheriff said one of the main problems is the lack of supervision by parents. He said he didn’t think parents were paying close enough attention to what their adolescent children were doing or where they were going.

“A case in point is golf carts,” Limoges said. “We’re getting complaints of kids driving golf carts on the streets in Dakota Dunes. A lot of them are underage drivers. There was even a golf cart driven by a teenager who got into a collision recently with an SUV over here this summer. Parents need to be careful about what they are letting their kids do or riding with.”

Limoges said it’s important that if people see something going on that is questionable they report it right away and not wait. He talked about being told there was vandalism at the golf course. “So I had our dispatcher take a look at the reports — only there weren’t any on the golf course. We have to have people make reports of vandalism and criminal activity if we are going to be able to do something about it.”

The Sheriff said he and his deputies were working on a plan, but he needed citizens to cooperate.

Kurt Bornholtz of the Sioux City Night Patrol echoed Limoges’s suggestions for Dunes residents to say something if they see something. He explained that the Night Patrol is on duty in the community from 6:00 p.m. through 6:00 a.m. and that they always use the same two officers patrolling the community.

The Night Patrol doesn’t have the power to arrest anyone, but they can detain a person and turn that person over to a deputy sheriff.

“I’ve seen a lot of community members not wanting to bother law enforcement,” Bornholtz said,” but really, you do need to contact us. It’s no bother. If you hear or see something that isn’t right, call us or 9-1-1.”

Lee Macklem, President of the Dakota Dunes HOA, talked about why there wouldn’t be any questions at the end of the two law enforcement officers’ presentations. He said the HOA and the CID felt that limiting the meeting to solely an informational one without a Q&A would keep the meeting from getting too long and getting contentious.

While some people in the audience said they felt misled, and that there would be answers to questions, it was pointed out that the informational flyer expressly stated that there would be no question and answer period.

Macklem said he did reach out to the neighborhood chairpersons of the HOA to see what questions they had been hearing about. One included whether or not there was a curfew in Dakota Dunes.

The answer is there are three of them as stated in Dakota Dunes CID Ordinance UCC2011-022. 10:00 p.m. for those under the age of 14. 11:00 p.m. for 14 or 15-year-olds. Midnight for 16 or 17-year-olds.

The CID has scheduled three Night Patrol cars to be on duty during Halloween just like it did during homecoming.

“The only thing we can do,” Macklem said, “is take our community back. We have a part in this. If you see something going on, report it.”