Valuable Info in Local Police Blotter

For the first couple of months after the burglary, I searched online every couple of weeks to see if there was any news in local online newspapers about burglary suspects getting caught for burglaries in our city. While the criminals in our case are still running a muck, a search for "[our city]+burglary" via Google would serve results that included new activity in our city regarding burglaries. This piqued my interest and made me wonder, "what other shady activities should we be aware of that are happening in our city?"

While I've never seen a formal police blotter from the police department published in the city paper for the residents of our little surburban city of just under 51,000, one of the Google searches led me to a website called Patch.com. The site focuses on local information for several cities in 20 states. Not all cities in the states listed are included but info includes updates on recent police activity and crime (and other stuff like what to do locally on the weekend, local politics, community issues, and more).

Knowing what's happening in our city - what the bad guys are doing - not only reminds us the threat of being burglarized again is very real but gives us an opportunity to remember normal precautions that can potentially prevent us from being targeted. For example, I read about items stolen from vehicles where an owner left an auto unlocked. I think when you've lived in an area that has always felt like a very quiet, safe neighborhood, it's easy to be careless due to a false sense of security. Now, even if a car is locked, items left in a vehicle which are attractive to crooks include tools (apparently a very popular category of items to steal) and electronics of all sorts (laptops, gps units, etc.). And, cars parked on the street vs. in your driveway = easier target for thieves!

These are just a handful of lessons we've learned or relearned from staying updated on local police activity in our city. Find out what's happening in your town. The knowledge could help prevent you from being a victim!