Citizen Reporting of Suspicious Behavior

The Shorewood Hills Police Department supports citizen reporting of suspicious behavior. It is critical to making our community safe and secure. We also respect citizens’ privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties by emphasizing behavior, rather than appearance, in identifying suspicious behavior.

Factors such as race, ethnicity, and/or religious affiliation are not suspicious. We ask the public to only report articulable suspicious behavior and situations. Examples could be an unattended backpack, someone walking through an area checking car doors, a car driving slowly through an area without headlights, a stranger loitering in your neighborhood, an open door at a closed business, or the sounds of fighting. By no means is this list exhaustive, but you can see that it is the behavior that is suspicious, no matter who the person is. 

While we ask our citizens to report suspicious behavior that they observe, also ask that they never try to take action on their observations. Only trained police officers should take action based on these observations. Some activity that may appear suspicious could be innocent. It is up to the police to determine if the behavior warrants further investigation or action. Generally, police will evaluate if a crime has occurred, is about to occur, or is occurring, or if there is a threat to safety prior to taking action.

If you believe that a crime is in progress, call 9-1-1 to report your observations. For non-emergency reporting, please call (608)255-2345 to report. Trained call-takers have a system and format that they follow to get the most accurate information they can in order to evaluate the call and to dispatch the appropriate resources.

Thank you for helping keep Shorewood Hills safe and secure for all!