There is something going on in the neighborhood.

And I can't for the life of me figure it out.

Police patrol activity has increased and I see a lot more police cars going through the area. I'm not the only one that seems to have noticed it, all the neighbors have and we can't figure it out.

Generally the best way to get to the bottom of something is to out and out ask and see what kind of reply you get so the other day I pulled up to a parked police officer and asked. I got what I expected, vague answers and nothing specific. He didn't seem very receptive to my questions even though I told him the entire neighborhood was wondering what is going on. His attitude seemed to be a bit defensive.

I guess I am just going to have to keep my eyes open a little more. It is obvious that something is going on and that the police are not really talking. I think I'm going to put a bug in the ears of my neighbors to keep their eyes open and their cell phones handy.

My instinct tells me that I really don't have to start running around armed all the time, but I think that on the home front I'll keep something that shoots handy. That's no change, as there generally is something that shoots handy around the Piccolo residence.

I think that the reason that the police are being so vague about things is because they don't want to get people upset and up in arms. I can see their point to a certain degree.

While having a neighborhood up in arms keeping their eyes open for the forces of evil can be a good thing, it can also lead to horrible results. Most people are either untrained or poorly trained and that can be disasterious. There is nothing worse out there than a worked up idiot packing a pistol and either so paranoid that he will shoot anything or worse yet, a guy with an attitude that is out and out looking for an excuse to pop someone.

I sort of figure that the average guy has pretty good judgement and would probably reach for the proper tool if he encountered anything that looked shady; he'd reach for his cell phone and call the police. However, not everyone has that attitude. All it takes to turn something into a real mess is for some idiot that wants to be a hero to decide to take action on his own. Then you have big trouble on your hands. Someone would probably get hurt, most likely the hero and the ensuing legal mess would take years to clean up. Odds are that the bad guys would wind up getting rich and skate, after they took a laughing walk to the bank.

I've wondered whether to try and organize some sort of a neighborhood watch program, but I think that if I do I'll be met with either resistance or some sort of 'duh, gee, whiz' type of childish oversupervision on the part of the local gendarmes. The truth is, if we tried to officially organize something it would probably mean that the police would spend more time watching the watch program people than they would watching around for whatever it is that they are looking for.

I think I know how I'm going to handle this and that is to simply have a little talk with my core neighbors. I'll tell them that whatever is going on, the gendarmes are keeping this under wraps and to simply keep their eyes open and their cell phones handy. This is probably going to be a waste of time because if I know them they are already doing this. The neighbors around here are generally pretty good about stuff like this.

Still, I wish I knew what was going on.

I see a few reasons for the police putting a lid on this, some hold water, some don't. I can see keeping it quiet to keep the people from arming themselves and getting all worried. I can see not wanting some mouth to open and tip off the wrong people. All this makes sense if we are talking about a specific target.

But if there is some kind of increase in crime going on, then it makes sense to put some sunshine on it and get the locals to keep their eyes open. Robert Peel, the father of modern policing, said the following:
"The police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence."
There's more than a grain of truth to that. The people have to get involved for the system to work, and the police have to get over the "Us versus Them" attitude that many of them seem to carry with them.
I have seen over the years that the best and most successful police officers have been the ones that are true 'people persons' that actually like to communicate with the neighborhood people and know how to both talk and listen. I used to have a damned good go-to guy on the force. Once in a while he would let me know what was going on. It helped, and it was also a two way street as he knew that letting me know what was going on meant another pair of eyes on the street.
Of course, he got promoted and is now working somewhere else which now is good for him, yet now does me no good. Oh, well.
I think that over the weekend I will just have a quiet little word with the neighbors remind them that keeping their eyes open and their cell phones handy might be a good idea.
Of course, maybe this entire thing is unwarranted. This could simply be a case where the local police department has gotten some money somewhere and has decided to spend it by hiring a couple more officers and stepping up police activity. I sort of doubt this, though.
I don't know what they're looking for but whatever it is, I hope they find it soon. This matter has me concerned.


Update: This is not limited to my neighborhood. According to a few others I have run into over the past day or so it is all over town, so maybe it is a case of getting more money and hiring a few more officers. Still, I've had a word with a couple neighbors about keeping their eyes open and their phones handy.

Another thing. I pitched the Jack Daniels bottles Bob brought by yesterday.(See yesterday's post) When police activity changes it is also generally followed by a major change in attitude on the part of the force. Instead of just seeing if we are actually drinking on the porch, instead of seeing we are not and simply driving off, we will probably get hassled. So at least until things settle down a bit it is time to fly under the radar. That means no fireworks and things of that nature for a while.




my other blog is: http://officerpiccolo.blogspot.com/ http://piccolosbutler.blogspot.com/