disturbing news about our neighborhood

Message

earendel · #1 Post by **earendel** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 6:38 am

So I was at the fitness center last night, walking on the treadmill. There are six large-screen TVs set up for watching, set to different channels. One of them was showing local news, and I happened to look up just as I saw a map of our neighborhood displayed on the screen. I quickly took the headphones out of my MP3 player and plugged them into the little box on the treadmill so I could hear what it was about. The news report was about an attempted child abduction that took place just two blocks from our house - someone had tried to take a middle-school age girl as she was waiting for the school bus that morning. The report went on to say that since September there had been three residential break-ins and two sexual assaults in the neighborhood, all believed to be the work of one person. All of them took place in the early morning hours. When we got home there was a call on our answering machine - a "reverse 911" call rom the metro police department telling us of these events (evidently they just realized the pattern involved and the similar descriptions of the perpetrator) and saying that there would be increased patrol activity in the area for a while.

This link is to the local newspaper's Web site story about the situation.

http://tinyurl.com/2f8o99

What concerns me is that there's a period of roughly two hours between the time I leave for work and the time elwing leaves for work. I've been remiss in not locking the door after I leave, but not any more.

PlacentiaSoccerMom · #2 Post by **PlacentiaSoccerMom** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 8:21 am

Jeff gets mad at me because I always lock the doors when I come into the house or yell at him because he doesn't. (Sometimes I come into the house and forget he is outside and lock him out.)

We live in a very safe neighborhood.

All it takes is one crazy person and one incident.

I won't even answer the front door any more unless I know the person, or it is a kid selling something.

christie1111 · #3 Post by **christie1111** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 8:58 am

My son forgot to set the alarm on the house when he left this morning. I went back after dropping him off at school and set it.

Daughter1111 gets home first and having the alarm on means that the house is safe for her to come in.

We also live in a very safe neighborhood, but so did the family in Cheshire CT that 3 family members were killed by intruders.

PlacentiaSoccerMom · #4 Post by **PlacentiaSoccerMom** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 9:09 am

christie1111 wrote: We also live in a very safe neighborhood, but so did the family in Cheshire CT that 3 family members were killed by intruders.

I was thinking about them as well.

From what I read the two intruders came in through an unlocked basement door.

gsabc · #5 Post by **gsabc** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 10:21 am

PlacentiaSoccerMom wrote:
christie1111 wrote: We also live in a very safe neighborhood, but so did the family in Cheshire CT that 3 family members were killed by intruders.
I was thinking about them as well.

From what I read the two intruders came in through an unlocked basement door.

Ditto the trucker who attacked a 15-year-old in her home in Chelmsford MA, with a porch or back door. The parents heard and caught the guy, fortunately. He had tried getting into several other area homes just before, and got chased off once by an alert occupant. All their doors were locked. He has since confessed to at least one murder along his trucking route.

BD doesn't like it when she comes home after we do and the door is locked. I may insist on it, though. I do lock it behind me when I leave before her in the AM. As has been said, it only takes one time ...