This van incident should be a gigantic wake up call.
Is there a reason for not posting the plate number to make sure that people are not unnecessarily alarmed by a different van? Is it not correct that two residents, one on Southampton and one on Dorchester, reported the plate number to LMPD (maybe more)? This van has been seen extensively in Bellemeade for at least four days now; people have reported the plate number; he is obviously up to no-good of some type. Is Neighborhood Watch working to the extent that unsuspecting residents of Bellemeade and surrounding neighborhoods have been alerted?
Unoccupied houses are an excellent source of all kinds of things to steal (copper pipe and wiring just to mention a couple) or to sleep in if somebody happens to be homeless/unemployed. We do have some unoccupied houses; do we know which ones? A resident's vehicle that seldom, if ever, moves is a good target to be stolen or stripped. Let's not fool ourselves into thinking we have a lot of time to prepare for the increase in crime that is resulting now from the bad economy and will get even worse. I'm not talking about creating a band of confrontational residents which could get somebody hurt or killed. I'm talking about organizing the eyes and ears of the community and teaching them how and what to look for AND how to report incidents properly AND how to insure that other residents are made aware of a potential threat.
I know I got a little wound up there, but ........................................ Do I really need to explain my concern? Thanks for reading this/
