Crime and Punishment

Most of us go to sleep at night feeling pretty safe and secure in our neighborhood. But no neighborhood is completely safe. Below is OSNA officer Paul Joy's account of an incident that took place last Friday evening (10/17) of which we should all be aware:

Last evening I returned home at 9 pm and went inside my house. As usual, I always look around on the way in, but didn't notice anything odd. I went back to my truck a few minutes later and noticed a bike laying in the grass in front of Rick Herschners' house. Rick is frequently away and it was odd to see a bike laying there when it was not 5 minutes earlier.

I phoned the police because something told me there was an issue with this. While waiting for them to arrive, a person came out of the bushes from the far side of the house (not the driveway side) and when question, he gave me some stupid answers and got on the bike and left. When riding away, he gave out a couple of loud whistles and kept moving.

When the police officer arrived, I gave a full report and description of the guy to him, and he said they'd check out the house. The single officer came out from the back of the house and immediately called for 'back-up', enlisting the aid of 3 other officers who showed up within seconds (it took two phone calls and a half hour for the first officer to arrive) They all started going over the outside of the house as well as each window and door looking for any entry. The back door was ajar but chained from the inside. They surmised that no one could have entered and said they'd patrol extra in the neighborhood that evening.

They left and I proceeded to leave a few minutes later to go to my store. When I turned on Elm Street, all the police cars were in front of the Slater's house and I could see flashlights inside. The same bike was out front of the house and no one was around. I waited to talk to the officers to identify the bike, when Mike Bingham arrived. The officers came out front and we saw them coming from around the corner with a guy matching the description I gave them, sans hat and coat (he must have ditched them to look different).

I identified him as the guy, they questioned him and closed up the house and left with him in the police car. Nothing appeared to have been stolen, but the cops suggested he may not have been alone and when he was whistling leaving Herschners' he may have been signaling to others.

Point of the e-mail: we have several empty houses in the neighborhood, and some people are not always home, leaving their houses dark. As a community group. I think it prudent to identify these houses and make sure we (meaning an immediate neighbor) have emergency numbers for these people. Lock up your cars at night and securely lock your houses and look for odd or suspicious activity.

With the economy growing worse and money so hard to hold onto, this may be a good time to have OSNA sponsor a community watch/awareness night. But regardless, pass this along and tell your friends and neighbors to 'lock it up'. I'm sure the police dept would help sponsor this.