How Do You Keep Up With What's Going On In Your Area? (Crime, Social, Etc.)

Discussion in 'Politics & Government' started by Diane Lane, Apr 15, 2015.

  1. Diane Lane

    Diane Lane Veteran Member
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    I just posted about this on another site, and figured I'd mention it here, because I think it's important.

    I belong to a couple of groups that cover my neighborhood, and what goes on here. Sometimes we'll hear gunshots (or what sounds like gunshots), other loud noises, and it's nice to be able to check in online to see what happened. I always get concerned when I hear sirens, especially late at night, and I can log in and see if someone's house is on fire, if someone has been injured, etc. People also discuss community and/or personal events, sometimes talk about their businesses, and offer free items they no longer want or need, so it's also a social place, not simply for emergencies.

    In addition to those groups, I have been signed up at http://www.nixle.com/ for a while. The site lets you know things like if there's an escaped prisoner, a civil emergency, a police or fire emergency, etc,. so it's helpful.

    Here's another site I've signed up at, so I know what types of crimes are occurring in my area: http://www.spotcrime.com/ This one shows arrests, crimes, drug activity, etc.
     
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  2. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    I owned an ambulance company in Hidalgo County, Texas. Being on the Texas-Mexico border, there was a lot of violence. In fact, one year, I responded to seven patients who had been shot in the head just between Christmas and New Years, to give you an indication, and those were just the calls that I took myself.

    Anyhow, I was renting a house next to our main ambulance station. One day while I was off duty, I heard what sounded like firecrackers. They were going off too quickly to be gunshots, I thought. I went into my backyard trying to figure out where they were coming from. I had my radio with me since, when you are a co-owner of the company, you're never really off duty. Then I heard our ambulance being dispatched to a drive-by shooting to the house just across from my back yard. Either they weren't trying to kill anyone or they were the worst shots in the world because there were about twenty people outside barbecuing, and only one of them was hit (in the leg) while about thirty shots were fired. Later that day, I noticed a bullet hole in my bathroom window, not too far from where I was standing.

    Knowing what was going on used to be easy for anyone with a scanner, but most emergency systems use digital or trunked systems now that operate on several frequencies at once, and cannot be so easily scanned. Actually, they may have moved to something even more sophisticated now, as they were moving to the trunked systems while I was still working as a paramedic in the 1990s. The Cameron County Sheriff's Department had moved to a trunked system, abandoning their regular channel, which was on a repeater, allowing for clear communication from anywhere within a few hundred miles or more. When I worked with Los Fresnos EMS, we had their old channel programmed into our radio. We were assured by a deputy that no one with the SO even monitored that channel anymore so we used it for personal communications, things like asking someone to make a stop at Whatburger on their way back from the hospital, etc. It was also the channel we used to stay in communication with our ambulance when they were doing long-distance transfers.
     
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  3. Diane Lane

    Diane Lane Veteran Member
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    What was the time frame of that, Ken? The Valley used to seem quiet, back when I hung down there, in the 80s, but it sure has picked up, especially with all the cartel traffic and illegals coming across now. I have scanner apps, but the local channels are very quiet. I sometimes listen to Harris County, TX, Boston, Brownsville, or Alaska channels, when I'm bored.
     
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  4. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    That was in 2000. I lived in the Valley from 1983 to 2001, and it was safe enough for people who weren't involved in the drug trade. The violence was almost entirely restricted to those involved in the drug trade, I think, although others might be caught in the crossfire every now and then. I left the keys in my car and almost never locked the doors to my house.
     
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  5. Pat Baker

    Pat Baker Supreme Member
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    I should pay more attention to what goes on in our area I know. I have become a little to comfortable thinking that our area is safe. The area is sort of closed by a deadend street. Which limits cars coming thru the area. The area is changing as more and more older people are moving out and the younger families with kids are purchasing the larger houses. We often have windows and doors unlocked also.
     
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  6. Gary Ridenour

    Gary Ridenour Veteran Member
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    wife and I sold our city home back in 012 and now live outside the suburbs. best move we ever made
     
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  7. Dave Sun

    Dave Sun Veteran Member
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    We have reverse emergency calling here. Just recently had a 3:00 AM call from police telling us to be alert as there was a home invasion in our area. Our community also has one call now, need to sign up for it, which informs us of on going things in our community. Oh, and neighborhood watch too.
     
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  8. Diane Lane

    Diane Lane Veteran Member
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    I used to have reverse calling here when I first moved in, but somehow that seems to have fallen off, as I've changed service. I'm not sure what one call is, I'll have to look that up. I'm not in the city, but there are probably about 600 homes within a few miles, and 400 or so here in the neighborhood. With some being rent homes, there can be turnover and issues, so I like to keep up with what's happening.
     
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  9. Dave Sun

    Dave Sun Veteran Member
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    Our one call is only in our community. I am in a senior park consisting of just over 500 homes. The calls come from our clubhouse. Meetings, salespeople, strangers, all are reported and then acted upon.
     
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  10. Sheldon Scott

    Sheldon Scott Supreme Member
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    I find out what's going on twice a year when I get a haircut. We do get Red Alert warnings on the phone when storms are coming our way.
     
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  11. Dave Sun

    Dave Sun Veteran Member
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    Haircut.......just had my go north haircut. I won't get another until we come back down in Oct. wife and I keep it fairly neat during the summer. Haven't got much hair anyway just a comb over. :p
     
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  12. Gary Ridenour

    Gary Ridenour Veteran Member
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    I have the weatherbug installed since. im in the Midwest. plus we get warning on TV as well. ah. what's this "haircut" thing???
     
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  13. Dave Sun

    Dave Sun Veteran Member
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    I have a weather radio as well as our IPads have a loud alert. And, of course TV when it's on. Florida is the Lightning capital of the states, plus very susceptible to hurricanes.
     
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  14. Diane Lane

    Diane Lane Veteran Member
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    As long as y'all stay safe! I heard sirens earlier, but haven't seen anyone posting the details in the neighborhood Facebook group. There's a pretty big gator in the gully, though, wish I'd read that before I went on my walk earlier, I would have saved some of my camera battery for a few shots of it.
     
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  15. Jenn Windey

    Jenn Windey Supreme Member
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    I check the local news site a few times a day, we also have the reverse calling thing but I would never know since that is the modem line now. I do think if the cops called at three in the morning I might have a heart attack. It is bad enough I worry every time my son goes out now, I couldn't imagine what it would be like if someone called about something like that in the middle of the night.

    We had an event a few years back where the cops were banging on my door at like four in the morning because my car had rolled out into the street. Now that car was the kind where you could not get the key out unless it was in park. We figured that some kid had got in the car, they do that around here trying to get change and CD's and stuff. All I could think was I must be a fright having been dead asleep and in my ratty old robe. i am sure the mascara had gave me raccoon eyes.

    As far as bad things go i feel like let the world turn without me. When I am inside for the night I don't want to know whats happening out there unless it has to do with snow. Even then I only care if it is the work day.
     
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