Shorewood Cops Keeping Quiet About 2010 Rapes

The Shorewood Police Department has refused to release any information on the three "forcible rapes" they claim occurred in the village in 2010.

The reported sex attacks first came to light last week when the FBI posted its annual uniform crime report.

In addition to the three incidents of "forcible rape" last year, the Shorewood police told the FBI it handled two robberies and 10 aggravated assaults in 2010. This was on top of 38 burglaries, 131 thefts, three motor vehicle thefts and two cases of arson.

Police Chief Aaron Klima has yet to respond to telephone inquiries placed more than a week ago about the FBI report in general and the three incidents of forcible rape reported to the feds by his department in particular.

After failing to get a response from Klima, Shorewood Patch requested copies of the police reports under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.

The Shorewood Police Department denied the request.

The police did reveal that they made no arrests in at least two of the cases. In the third case it is not clear whether an arrest was made or not. But the crime involved a juvenile offender, the police said, as well as a juvenile victim.

From the report numbers of the three forcible rapes, it appears they were committed in April, May and June.

In all three instances, the Shorewood police claim that information "in the reports is highly personal or objectionable to a reasonable person," and point to this as an explanation for keeping the matters under wraps.

The police also put forth that all three reports "cannot be effectively redacted."

The Shorewood police proved very effective at redacting reports after releasing one on a 24-year-old murder. Of the nine pages in the case report, five were completely blacked out.

Shorewood Patch appealed the Shorewood police department's decision to black out more than half the meager report and to withhold further information on the unsolved 1987 murder of David Wolfson. The matter is now in the hands of Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office.

Shorewood Patch has also appealed the police department's refusal to release information on the 2010 rapes.