Is the world getting scarier...

...or am I just turning into my mother?

A girl in one of my classes told me an awful story tonight: She lives on a little street only a couple of miles from me. She was home last Friday afternoon at 5:00 (broad daylight!), and her husband (a firefighter) was asleep in the bedroom. She heard a car in the driveway, and looked out and saw a light blue van right next to the house. She said it used to be a church van--she could still see the Methodist emblem on it. There were 4 people in it--a white man and woman in the front and two hispanic men in the back. The driver was loading and cocking a semi-automatic weapon. She ran back through the house yelling for her husband. Her husband thought she was nuts, so he went to the window to see for himself. He saw the gun, too, and grabbed her and pulled her to the back of the house. They tried to set off their security alarm, but it didn't work so they called 911. Apparently the people in the van heard them running around and yelling--they suddenly drove off.

The sheriff's department pulled the van over the next day, but didn't have enough evidence to arrest them. They didn't find any weapons when they pulled them over, but the van was full of cleaning supplies and vacuum parts. The driver claimed they were selling them door-to-door off the main road. The deputy told my friend that they have arrested others who have used the "cleaning supply" front to case houses and later burglarize them. The owner/driver of the van has a criminal history.

Until the last year or so, I didn't even check to see if my door was locked before I went to bed. My parents live right next door, and my dad can see my door from his recliner. (He will sometimes call to tell me that the floodlight is on--it's on a motion sensor.) After I found out that my neighbors are on meth, I started paying more attention. Now that this whole Gary Hilton thing has gone down, I'm even more nervous. When I go to warm up my car in the mornings, I will lock myself in it just to drive it out of the garage.

I don't like being scared...it's not like me!

Crime is increasing most everywhere; what I see here in the Midwest (metropolitan crimes more-so) is violent crime; with younger assialants...OVER silly silly things.....

Lock your doors; DO NOT allow young children to answer the door;

remember your 2nd Amendment Rights folks......

A dog is one of the best alarms on the market as well;-) One that can toss out a loud bark

Remember nothing good happens after midnight...!!!!!
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Thanks. I agree wholeheartedly about becoming educated. I am a former inner-city school teacher. My students were hardcore gang members who couldn't make it in a regular classroom. All of them were on probation and parole, some for murder. Kind of like the movie, Dangerous Minds. I had them all day, everyday...breaks in the classroom, lunch in the classroom. Sometimes for years on end. I must say I loved it! (Yes, I gave it all up to move here. ) I had to educate myself on gangs to survive and be successful.
I have watched communities go from wanna-be gang affiliation to full-fledged gang infestation in a matter of years. I believe that if people were more informed there could be more done to make sure that gangs never gained a foothold. I notice that there is a sense of well being and safety in SoWal and I would like to preserve it. I don't believe in fear mongering. In my opinion fear breeds more fear and your world becomes what you think about all day long.

Well put.

Thanks. I agree wholeheartedly about becoming educated. I am a former inner-city school teacher. My students were hardcore gang members who couldn't make it in a regular classroom. All of them were on probation and parole, some for murder. Kind of like the movie, Dangerous Minds. I had them all day, everyday...breaks in the classroom, lunch in the classroom. Sometimes for years on end. I must say I loved it! (Yes, I gave it all up to move here. ) I had to educate myself on gangs to survive and be successful.
I have watched communities go from wanna-be gang affiliation to full-fledged gang infestation in a matter of years. I believe that if people were more informed there could be more done to make sure that gangs never gained a foothold. I notice that there is a sense of well being and safety in SoWal and I would like to preserve it. I don't believe in fear mongering. In my opinion fear breeds more fear and your world becomes what you think about all day long.

I don't think the world is getting scarier, I think we hear more about every bad thing because the media doesn't have enough content to fill their time slots. Do think that drugs and the current economic state are definitely causing more crime in places that didn't previously have it though.

Basic precautions and keeping an eye on your neighbors goes a long way in ensuring your safety. I don't fear for my safety or worry about robbery, but I still always lock my doors & car and make an effort to keep myself out of potentially dangerous situations.

I was taught that criminals are lazy, so the harder you make it for them, the better off you'll be! Doors should be locked, items that are valuable should be kept out of sight, and you should be aware of your surroundings.

Living in a place where you get a phone call if your car is spotted in your driveway when you're supposed to be at work, or if a strange car was there helps too! At my last house our neighbor across the street was so protective of us girls that we joked that he'd know if we got laid before we did!

I don't think the world is getting scarier, I think we hear more about every bad thing because the media doesn't have enough content to fill their time slots. Do think that drugs and the current economic state are definitely causing more crime in places that didn't previously have it though.

Basic precautions and keeping an eye on your neighbors goes a long way in ensuring your safety. I don't fear for my safety or worry about robbery, but I still always lock my doors & car and make an effort to keep myself out of potentially dangerous situations.

I was taught that criminals are lazy, so the harder you make it for them, the better off you'll be! Doors should be locked, items that are valuable should be kept out of sight, and you should be aware of your surroundings.

Living in a place where you get a phone call if your car is spotted in your driveway when you're supposed to be at work, or if a strange car was there helps too! At my last house our neighbor across the street was so protective of us girls that we joked that he'd know if we got laid before we did!

Don't be scared...get proactive and take a self defense course--as an added precaution keep the kids' little league bat in the corner behind the door (an old "inner city" trick);-)


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I'm afraid to keep any kind of weapon in my room--If someone invades my home while I'm asleep, he/she is automatically more alert than I am and would probably have no trouble disarming me. I don't relish the though of being killed with my own gun/knife/bat/whatever...
(

Nohall! How can you sleep at night not knowing if your doors or locked or not!
Are you out of your mind??

You're freaking yourself out over this--are you planning on throwing out all your kitchen knives, fireplace pokers or monkey wrenches? I guess I can sound a bit more cavalier since I'm originally a product of the "inner city" and have a fair degree of street smarts. Unfortunately, we don't live in Mayberry RFD anymore.

First, you need to calm yourself down; and by all means, lock up your doors and windows at night. You may find that taking a self defense course might give you a bit more peace of mind and give you your sense of control back.

Time to suck it up and move forward.

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I'm afraid to keep any kind of weapon in my room--If someone invades my home while I'm asleep, he/she is automatically more alert than I am and would probably have no trouble disarming me. I don't relish the though of being killed with my own gun/knife/bat/whatever...