Criminal Intentions
Where were you on
October 17th, 1990?
That night, Hubby and I wanted to celebrate our “dating
anniversary,” so we walked from the Victorian we were
renting on Pacific Avenue, to our favorite restaurant on
Webster Street in Alameda, California. After dinner, as we
stepped out of the restaurant, we were shocked to find the
ordinarily busy street empty, but for dozens of police,
with their cars and lights blocking the entrances to the
road. A single taxi cab stood alone in the middle of the
road at an angle, doors flung open. There was a buzz of
activity at the entrance to a fast food restaurant right
near it.
We skirted the cordons and
headed toward home, watched by the police all the way. At
the entrance to our place, yet another police car blocked
the road. We asked if there was anything we needed to know.
His reply: “No, just go about your business.”
“Well, we were taking a walk, but we can just go home…”
“No, keep walking. There’s no problem.”
We kept asking, and he kept insisting that all was well.
But our mamas didn’t raise dumb kids. Something didn’t look
right about this situation, so we went inside and
double-locked the doors.
Yup, follow your intuition. It turned out that the crazed
killer who’d already randomly shot a fast-food clerk in the
face and murdered the cab driver in cold blood was still on
the loose. They found him two blocks from our house, two
hours later.
Naturally, we felt we’d been ill-served by our Boys in
Blue, who’d recommended that we put ourselves in harm’s
way, and called the department to complain.
Their response was, and I quote:
“It’s not our job to protect you.”
I’m not trying to make anyone mad here, but it would be irresponsible of me to avoid the issue of crime, particularly in this economy.
I got reacquainted with this topic when some friends of mine mentioned that they’d bought their first gun, ever. But they couldn’t get ammunition for it. The gun shop owner said it was back-ordered and asked them to let him know if they found a source. So they went somewhere else in the state, several hundred miles south. The same thing happened. Our crack Simpleton Solutions staff (okay, I) checked out the situation in the far north of California, and found the same situation. The guy at Walmart said the ammo sold out as soon as he could stock it. Wow. I don’t call that a vote of confidence for economic recovery, do you?
Here in the Land of Fruits and Nuts, crime is ratcheting ever upward, and it’s getting more bold, too. At the same time, due to our fiscal woes, police departments are considering layoffs, and District Attorney’s offices are openly saying that they can no longer afford to prosecute some crimes.
My point? Creating a “defensible space” isn’t just about fire protection anymore. It’s going to be up to you to keep yourself and your family safe. Or not. But you have to decide. Do you want your stored emergency provisions to go to your family, or to someone stronger than you are? What are you willing to do to keep what you need to ride out this economic storm?