Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Why Nobody at Oakhaven Cares about the Crime Watch

Building captains don't show up at the Oakhaven Crime Watch meetings. Residents don't show up at the Oakhaven Crime Watch meetings. Few people show up even when we hand out free food and bring in interesting speakers. Why are our Oakhaven Crime Watch meetings so sparsely attended?Buy at Art.com

We asked the experts. The answer is simple, and there's one main reason for the poor attendance at Oakhaven Crime Watch meetings. That is because our Oakhaven Crime Watch works, and there is very little crime here! If we had a number of cars or apartments broken into, we would have spectacular attendance at Oakhaven Crime Watch events. Naturally, we do not want a crime spree here, so this is why the Oakhaven Crime Watch is particularly important when it works well. As people drop out, we need more participation to fill empty positions when people move. And we always need more eyes and ears.

We don't want to have to all carry around pepper spray every time we take out the trash or get something from the car!

So just because the Oakhaven Crime Watch works, don't think we don't need every one of the Oakhaven residents. It's because of everyone's participation that Oakhaven is one of the safest places in Carrollton, already the safest city in Texas. Instead of complacency, we need cooperation! Make sure your building captain has your name, phone number, and email, at a minimum. If you don't have a building captain, how about becoming one?

In short, don't wait until it is too late to become involved in the Oakhaven Crime Watch. We want boring meetings, because we want the Oakhaven Crime Watch to work!

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Blog Features

In order to help you get the most out of our Oakhaven Crime Watch blog, we want to take you on a tour of what is available on our blog page. If you look to the right of this post, you will see on the top is our Twitter feed. This is used for short reminders as well as real-time reporting. So you can message everyone in the complex from your computer or mobile phone by sending a tweet to @OakhavenCW.

Just underneath that, you'll see a list of the agencies whose Twitter accounts the Oakhaven Crime Watch are following. As of today, those include the City of Carrollton and the Texas Department of Transportation. Both the City of Carrollton and the Texas Department of Transportation post useful information, not too often. The city posts about public events, road work, etc. that affect Oakhaven residents, and the Texas Department of Transportation posts about lane closures (again, something that the Oakhaven Crime Watch feels Oakhaven residents will find useful). We encourage you to see if those Twitter accounts will be useful to you.

Then you will find our blog archives. We try to make the posts useful to everyone,  so feel free to go back and read and comment on previous posts!

Underneath that is the Oakhaven Crime Watch calendar. Of course, the first thing we list on there is our monthly meeting. Even if you are not a member of the Oakhaven Crime Watch, we encourage you to show up, if for no other reason than to meet your building captain. However, the monthly meeting with the building captains is a way to find out how the Oakhaven Crime Watch works, and to express your concerns to the Crime Watch.

And lastly, on the right, is a list of links that we hope you will find useful. We have provided a link to the City of Carrollton's web site, the Carrollton Police Department's Facebook page and web site, and a link to listen to live radio from the Carrollton Police Department online--you don't even need to buy a scanner! If you are listening to something on the scanner, and you hear something of interest to Oakhaven residents, please send us a tweet about it! And last, we have a link to reported crime in and around Oakhaven, so you will understand just why we have the Crime Watch!

We have our privacy policy posted, and a page that tells you a little of the history of the Oakhaven Crime Watch. We hope you'll take the time to familiarize yourself with everything on the blog, and make suggestions for how we can make it more useful to you! Leave us a comment, send us a tweet, or send us an email. After all, we are here for you!

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

How You Can Help the Crime Watch Committee

We at the Crime Watch committee do our best to keep an eye out and guard the safety of our neighbors. However, we cannot have eyes and ears everywhere. Want to help keep our apartment complex the safest in the neighborhood? Here's how!
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Crime, from the National Law Codes of Magnus Eriksson (1319-64) circa 1450
  • Keep your eyes open.
  • If you see suspicious behavior, call the police. After calling the police, talk to your building captain. Or post to a comment to the blog (this website) or send a message to our Twitter account. Or you can send an email to OakhavenCrimeWatch @ gmail.com (take out the spaces around the @ sign to make a valid email address).
  • If possible, get a picture or video of what is going on. If the police need to make an arrest, it will help identify the people they are looking for. If other residents need to be on the lookout for that person, a picture will go a long way in helping to identify suspicious persons.
  • Do not confront anyone!
  • Try to attend the Crime Watch meetings, which are open to anyone. It's free!
  • Make sure your building captain has your name, your email, and your phone number at a minimum. If something happens, we're going to call the police first. But then we'll call you and let you know, too. After all, if someone broke into your apartment or your car, would you rather know as soon as it happens, or wait to find out until you get home and be surprised by crime scene tape across your door?
  • Get to know your neighbors and keep an eye out for them when they are away from home. 

If you see something, and your instinct tells you that something is fishy, don't hesitate to report it. Don't ignore what your subconscious is telling you!

Cynthia Wunsch
Building 2 Crime Watch Captain