We have all the faith in the world in our police and mayor and city council. We have great community policing here in Vancouver. This neighborhood alone has improved so much over the past ten years because of the police and community working together.
Our city’s total crime rate could be further reduced with a Federal Courthouse and Federal Prosecution and a newer Medical Examiner’s Office. But our police and Medical Examiner’s office do amazingly excellent work with the tools they have been given.
People should realize that we do not live in a Norman Rockwell society. He was an idealist, a painter. He painted dreams of utopia at a time when our nation was in terrible upheaval so his paintings gave us a reminder to keep our chin up. But as they did then, people should still now look at the reality of their lifestyle and be watchful over their children, their neighbors, and the elderly around them. They should be familiar with the cars that come and go in their neighborhood; when the couple across the street goes to work; when their kids come home from school.
In order to have home security, people are going to have a certain amount of inconvenience. They should not be put off by the police telling them to lock their doors and windows. You don’t lose your liberty and independence just by locking a door or knowing your neighbor’s name. People should not be afraid to call 911. If they see suspicious activity, they should report it. We also encourage people to put in security systems. If they can afford it, install two or three.
If people want to better their neighborhood, they should help to make it so. We were advised as we were forming our neighborhood crime watch to get the book by Gavin DeBecker, The Gift of Fear. The book is not about forming crime watches, but has been a helpful tool for individual, personal protection. We recommend to people of all ages to read that book. He is a brilliant man. Each neighborhood should tailor their crime watch to their particular location and they should be sensible and cautious. For security reasons we do not give out details of our crime watch, but we do work within the guidelines of the law and the police are well aware of our volunteer group.
Please visit our website at www.rosemerena.org
