Monday, March 06, 2006

Neighborhood Watch: Update (sort of)

Well a busier than usual week got by me, and I didn't get a summary posted of what happened at last Wednesday's Neighborhood Watch meeting until now.

Very briefly, it seems there has been a "rash" of minor burglaries in the last six to eight weeks. There are at least two other incidents in addition to the ones previously reported here, bringing the total to at least four burglaries, one stolen car (and of course the break-in at Everest).

One of the people who was burglarized has developed his own pattern MO. He says that based on the facts he has unofficially compiled, they are all in the day-time, involve a minor break-in (screen latch, etc.) and result in, at most, losses of about what one person could carry in one trip (example, a flat screen TV and some jewelry). He also added that some unwanted items are often (or always?) discarded in the front lawn.



I was hoping that one of the people who had more facts at the meeting would compile a better summary which I could post, but my third hand report is all we have so far.

Deputy Estrada indicated that not every incident gets an official report, so the official crime stats available at the Altadena station (I'll go get them when I have a chance) do not include the whole picture.

He gave some pointers on how to organize and be more effective when communicating with the sheriff dispatcher.

He handed out a couple dozen thick Neighborhood Watch "manuals" (maybe 50 pages drilled for a 3-ring binder). As far as I know, there is no PDF available for posting. If anyone finds out otherwise, please let me know.

Finally, he said the best thing we can do is stay in touch with each other. The traditional method is to create a phone tree, but that is a bit analog for me, so I created a self-serve Email Loop at neighbors@stonehillnews.com. One of the organizers last week compiled a list of names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses. As soon as that is updated and made available to me, I'll manually add all those email addresses to the loop. Anyone else who wants to get in the loop may use the new subscription link in the "Quick Links" section available in the upper right corner of the website.

2 comments:

  1. I think we should all assume that the crime wave is slightly related to the rampant amount of construction going on in the neighborhoods.

    Our daytime-neighborhood population probably swells by 10% with all of the different workers, vendors and suppliers in the area.

    I think crime is inevitable. We all just need to keep aware and watch out for each other.

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  2. You are probably on a productive track, Issac. One other thing to look at while "patterning": Do the times correspond with out-of-school times? That might suggest a juvenile. Also, I believe there is a small group home for girls on Via Maderas, off Rubio Canyon Rd. Since I don't think these girls have cars and they are not so close, this would be a pretty unlikely focus. And yes, Isaac, we have to take care of eachother. In our neighborhood, just west of the upper entrance to Eaton Canyon, we have not succeeded in organizing a formal Neighborhood Watch so my suggestion has been that each one have close contacts with about four adjacent neighbors. It makes for a network. Helps if you run out of milk or sugar, too. One evening I put out an APB for two potatoes and three neighbors met me in the street each with a sack of potatoes!

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