[RP TownTalk] car break-in

[tazimax]

My son's car got broken into a few months ago and his radio was stolen. I live all by myself in the middle of several businesses, so at night, I do call ALOT on suspicious vehicles and people because 9 out of 10 times they are trying to deal drugs or have a romantic liason as I find out the next day from used condoms. I've loudly chased drug dealers off my street when my boys were small ( I know not smart but it worked). I fight hard to keep my tiny section of this town in good shape....with no help from my neighbors SunTrust, McDonald's, or Douglas Jamal. But still......sometimes it doesn't work so keep looking out folks....if the person's doing nothing wrong, our police do a good job and WILL NOT harass them for no reason. I know, I've seen it for myself. ( P. S. It's still trespassing to be in that parking lot at night. So they're not doing  " nothing " wrong. )

Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE smartphone-------- Original message --------From: Sarah Wayland <sarah.wayland at gmail.com> Date: 10/9/2015  5:21 PM  (GMT-05:00) To: Heather Cronk <heather.cronk at gmail.com> Cc: TownTalk at riverdale-park.org Subject: Re: [RP TownTalk] car break-in 
This is an important point, Heather. Let me provide some explanation & clarification, in the interest of starting a dialog. 
I used to think exactly what you wrote. Many years ago (wow, I think it's actually been almost 20 years now) crime was worse in our town, and a group of us started up a Neighborhood Watch program. (our current mayor, then a new resident of town, was actually one of those primarily responsible for setting it up!) As part of our training, we spent several hours getting trained by the police who told us when to call and what to call about. This was before cell phones were in common use, so we carried police scanners with us as we walked through the neighborhoods. 
I was stunned to learn during the training that the police *wanted* us to call, even about little things. I had thought this would be annoying to them, and that they didn't want to hear about random annoying little things. It turns out that what seems "a little off but not harmless" can often be the information that helps to the police solve a crime. The rule the police gave us was, "If it looks weird, give us a call."
I learned that things like "cars parked on our side street that aren't usually there" might be a drug deal. I had no idea! Now that I know what to look for, I'm sorry to say I can spot a drug deal pretty easily now. They happen *fast*, as do most crimes. 
Of course the problem with this is that it's a slippery slope. A neighbor of ours was watching his friend's car while his friend was away on travel. Another neighbor called the police about the "strange car parked on the side street", and our neighbor's friend's car got towed without even a notice! That's exactly the kind of thing we don't want! 
In the 20 years since we started that Neighborhood Watch program, my car has been broken into twice, and my garage has also been broken into. It was never horrible, just a slight violation. The time my garage was broken into, a neighbor's shed was broken into just prior, and another neighbor called me because she was very shaken up, having just witnessed the shed break-in. Little did I know that while I was talking to her on the phone, my garage was being broken into! 
That string of shed break-ins, by the way, was solved when a resident called the police when he saw a guy jumping over a fence. The police caught the guy in the act of stealing stuff from another shed because they had a lead from someone in the community who called right away.  
Of course these folks usually commit their crimes when no one is looking, and they operate quickly. It's hard to even know whether you are seeing something weird, and I can personally attest to the fact that sometimes you don't even realize how weird it is until hours later.  
To be clear, what I don't mean by "weird" is "someone who looks different than me and my neighbors". 
But what *is* weird? This write up on the City of Lonsdale (MN) is quite consistent with what the police told us during our Neighborhood Watch training: 
http://www.lonsdale.govoffice.com/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC=%7B8E39A899-29E8-4B18-AF14-ED1081ACCC6B%7D

I keep thinking about another neighbor whose home was broken into while I was home. I heard a loud bang, but because of the noise of a nearby construction site, thought it was nothing unusual. I didn't call the police. My neighbors lost many things that were not only of monetary value, but also of great sentimental value. I still feel really really bad about that. I should have called. 
-Sarah
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