|
|
When to call the policeRemember the who, what, when, how and why when calling. You see someone you do not know walking down the street looking into cars or going up to houses and looking into windows. You see someone that appears to be going door to door but skips your house or goes around to the side or rear of your neighbor’s house. Remember at this point that we know that not all door to door sales people have city permits and a lot of companies hire convicted felons. You want to make sure that this person has a legitimate reason for being in the neighborhood and YOU DON’T BELIEVE THEY HAVE A REASON TO BE HERE. You see a car driving slowly down the street that you do not recognize and it appears that they are looking at houses to break into because there are no houses for sale on your street so they aren’t checking out real estate ads, or they look out of place in the neighborhood. Please EXPLAIN as best you can. Trust your GUT FEELINGS but try to put those "feeling" into words. You see a car occupied by multiple people pull up at a house and only one person gets out. It seems odd. Those neighbors work during the day, they are away for whatever reason or that is not one of the cars they said would be at their house taking care of animals, etc. You suddenly see the people run back to the car and get out of there. Hopefully by this time you have written down the license plate just in case they do something else that confirms your suspicions and you need to call if you haven’t already. Your hear something in your backyard and it isn’t the "usual" squirrel, possum, raccoon or cat noises. Your dog or your neighbor’s dog is barking in a different pitch. This isn’t barking at another animal. This is a different bark. Call 911. You hear something in your attic but the only access is from inside the house or garage and both of those are locked up for the night. Get up in the morning and check small cracks/holes where animals can get into your house or check the attic itself or have someone else do it for animal droppings. You may need an exterminator then to seal all the entry holes to keep the critters out of your house. If you get a "bad feeling" about anyone or anything in your neighborhood please call DISPATCH at 911 or 817-335-4222 One of our biggest problems is not being able to articulate why something/someone is suspicious. Trust your gut. You know your neighborhood better than I do. You know what cars should be at your neighbor’s house etc. You need to be able to explain to someone else why something is not right or seems odd. Officer Terri L. Wilson # 2248 |
