[RP TownTalk] [Town Talk] Re: Reporting Crimes

Wed May 10 16:15:10 UTC 2006

"All I know, if something was happening to me to make me scream like 
that, I'd want someone to help"

For what it's worth, I've heard that it said that women who take self 
defense training are instructed to yell FIRE and not HELP in the event 
of a rape or other threatening situation. FIRE makes people get up and 
move. HELP often gets ignored. It can't hurt that a perp would probably 
be awfully confused if you yelled FIRE while they were attacking you.

TownTalk-request at riverdale-park.org wrote:

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>Today's Topics:
>
>   1. definition of home invasion (Roland Walker)
>   2. The report of a "home invasion" in Ward 1 (Gerard Kiernan)
>   3. Notifying police of suspicious activities (Sue Collins)
>
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Message: 1
>Date: Tue, 9 May 2006 18:16:16 -0400
>From: "Roland Walker" <walker at pobox.com>
>Subject: [RP TownTalk] definition of home invasion
>To: TownTalk <TownTalk at riverdale-park.org>
>Message-ID:
>	<b0ee22d0605091516u2ec7f71eg438afcce2ecf778d at mail.gmail.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
>Gerry Kiernan corrects me on the meaning of "home invasion".  The
>police understand this term to refer only to cases where a stranger
>enters the house and threatens occupants with a weapon.  There was no
>weapon or confrontation in the recent burglary off Queensbury.
>
>I understood "home invasion" to mean "someone enters while the
>occupants are home".  While my dictionary agrees, I think it is more
>important in this context to recognize how the term is used by law
>enforcement.
>
>Councilman Kiernan, our Public Safety Committee chair, has done a lot
>of followup on this incident.  I want to recognize and appreciate his
>commitment and attention to detail on matters of public safety --
>something which affects all of us, even those outside his ward.
>
>R
>
>
>
>------------------------------
>
>Message: 2
>Date: Tue, 09 May 2006 19:50:29 -0400
>From: Gerard Kiernan <gerardkiernan at earthlink.net>
>Subject: [RP TownTalk] The report of a "home invasion" in Ward 1
>To: TownTalk <TownTalk at riverdale-park.org>
>Message-ID: <C086A305.3D37%gerardkiernan at earthlink.net>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
>
>Dear Town Talkers,
>
>Yesterday, Roland Walker reported on an occurrence that happened in West
>Riverdale.  After reading the e-mail, I contacted the patrol supervisor at
>our police department to get more details.  He said that the police had no
>information on a home invasion.  As Roland wrote earlier this evening, he
>defines any break-in with residents at home as a home invasion.  I, and the
>police, look at a home invasion as a situation where a perpetrator
>physically threatens the residents.
>
>Since the RPPD didn't know anything about a "home invasion", I contacted Mr.
>Walker for the address of the incident.  With that information, I contacted
>Chief Parker.  He had the police database searched and came up with the
>following:
>
>The event occurred on April 26 at 10:55 p.m., and was not a recent
>occurrence.  The resident heard someone in his house and called the police.
>The dispatcher recorded the call as a Breaking and Entering in progress.  By
>the time the officers arrived, the perpetrator had fled.  Since the person
>had entered the house by an open door (per Roland's report), a Burglary
>report was written.
>
>Note the distinction in police terminology. A Breaking and Entering (B&E)
>requires the perp to break in, i.e., force a lock or break a window.  A
>Burglary occurs when the perp can enter a property with having to destroy
>something to enter the property.
>
>In other messages, Roland and others have described thefts from automobiles
>that were left unlocked.  While I encourage everyone to lock their cars and
>houses, if a theft occurs, please report it to the police.
>
>Chief Parker asked that I describe a series of thefts from automobiles in
>Ward 2 north of East West Highway.  Since the victims had reported the
>crimes, the police had a pretty good idea of when they were occurring.
>Since it was the middle of the night,  Officer Garcia decided to patrol the
>neighborhood with his headlights turned off.  Surprise, surprise, he rolled
>up on the perpetrator attempting to steal the radio out of a car.  His
>creativity ended that particular crime spree.
>
>While Riverdale Park is relatively safe, our continued safety requires
>continued cooperation between our residents and the police.  As I have
>written before, if you see something that seems out of the normal, call it
>in.  Better to be safe than sorry.
>
>Thanks for your time.
>
>Gerry Kiernan
>Ward 5 Council Member
>Chair, Public Safety Committee
>H:301-277-4554 
>
>
>
>------------------------------
>
>Message: 3
>Date: Wed, 10 May 2006 03:49:55 -0700 (PDT)
>From: Sue Collins <wheadle at yahoo.com>
>Subject: [RP TownTalk] Notifying police of suspicious activities
>To: TownTalk at riverdale-park.org
>Message-ID: <20060510104955.83975.qmail at web31515.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
>
>RE calling in suspicious activity to the police; I
>totally agree!  Sad thing is, it seems some people go
>by the "if it's not happening to me, I'll keep my nose
>out of it" school of thought.  I heard a woman in my
>apartment building screaming "Help Me! Help Me!" and
>crying last week, so I ran in my apt. and called the
>police.  Other neighbors asked me what was going on,
>and when I told them I called the police, they acted
>like I should've ignored the screams!  All I know, if
>something was happening to me to make me scream like
>that, I'd want someone to help (but don't ever try to
>intervene in such things directly, as you could get
>hurt, too; get the police to handle it).  (by the way,
>it was a "domestic altercation")
>
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>End of TownTalk Digest, Vol 10, Issue 10
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